Reference VGStudio MAX - Harvard University · Min/max distance instrument 8-5 Caliper instrument 8-6 Activate navigation cursor 8-6 Snap 8-7 Snap modes > Min 8-7 Snap modes > Max

Release 2.0 VGStudio MAX Manual 1

. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Contents

1 Welcome 1-1About this product 1-1

Before first usage 1-1Preparations/Warnings 1-2Additional information and support 1-2Conventions used in the documentation 1-2Training 1-3

Training levels 1-3Public training 1-3On-site training 1-3

2 Workspace 2-13D Window 2-2

Object selection 2-2Move / Rotate mode 2-3

Move mode 2-3Rotate mode 2-3

Preview 2-44 / 2 / 1 pixels per ray 2-4Freeze rendering 2-4Center and focus camera 2-4Toggle fullscreen state 2-4

Context menu of 3D window 2-4Annotations 2-4Freeze rendering 2-4Tripod/Box > Show tripod 2-4Tripod/Box > Show box 2-5Tripod/Box > Configure 2-5Clipping > Create clipping plane 2-5Clipping > Create clipping box 2-5Clipping > Create aligned clipping box 2-5Text overlay > Default / Preset 2-5Text overlay > Configure ... 2-5Background color 2-5Reset 2-5Copy to clipboard 2-5

2 VGStudio MAX Manual Release 2.0

Properties 2-52D Windows 2-5

Focus selected object 2-6Reset zoom 2-6Zoom in / out 2-6Lock slice position 2-6Set brightness 2-6Toggle transform mode 2-7Original display mode 2-8Color mode / Color and Opacity mode 2-8Create clipping plane 2-8Toggle fullscreen state 2-8

Context menu of 2D window 2-8New region of interest 2-8Add 2-8Subtract 2-8Replace 2-8Close 2-8Zoom > Zoom in/out 2-9Zoom > Fit object to window 2-9Zoom > Fit scene to window 2-9Zoom > Reset 2-9Coordinate system 2-9Display mode 2-9Slice step width 2-9Level/Window mode 2-9Background 2-9Annotations 2-10Text overlay 2-10Clipping > Create clipping plane 2-10Interpolation mode 2-10Region Of Interest 2-10Tripod overlay > Show tripod 2-10Tripod overlay > Configure 2-10Reset 2-10Copy to clipboard 2-10Properties 2-10

Profile Window 2-10Material mode 2-11Lock 2-11Zoom in / out 2-11

Context menu of Profile window 2-11Copy to clipboard 2-11Reset zoom level 2-11

. . .

. .


Create interval 2-11Delete interval 2-12Export values as CSV 2-12

Tooldocks 2-12Icon bars 2-13

Display unit 2-13

3 File menu 3-1New 3-3Open... 3-3Save 3-3Save as... 3-3Save object... 3-4Merge object... 3-4Pack and go 3-4Import 3-5

Import: Image stack 3-6Import: Volume file 3-7Import options 3-8

File selection (for image stacks) 3-9File Selection (for Volume files) 3-10Data type 3-10Size 3-11Load as... 3-11ROI and Skip selection 3-13Manipulation 3-14

Histogram (Import) 3-14Preview (Import) 3-15Import: Polygon/CAD 3-16Import: CT Reconstruction 3-17

Export 3-17Export: Image stack 3-17Export: Volume file 3-18Export: DICOM Image series 3-18Export: AVI movie 3-18Export: Aligned / Multiple volumes 3-19Export: Polygon 3-20

Save image(s)... 3-21Save AVI/image stack ... 3-22Print image(s)... 3-23Quit 3-23


4 Edit menu 4-1Undo / Redo 4-1Clear undo queue 4-2Cut / Copy / Paste 4-2Delete 4-2Preferences 4-3

General 4-3General 4-3Annotation arrangement 4-4Coordinate system display 4-4CT-reconstruction 4-4MyVGL privileges 4-5Snap frame 4-5Textoverlay 4-5Unit 4-5

Slice elements 4-5Animation 4-5Isosurface 4-5Region of Interest 4-5

Analysis 4-6Coordinate measurement 4-6Defect detection 4-7Nominal/actual comparison 4-7Wall thickness 4-8

5 Object menu 5-1Rotate / Move 5-2Clipping 5-2Create light sources 5-2Calibrate 5-2

Standard calibration 5-2Specify sample area for calibration 5-3Automatic calibration 5-3

Advanced calibration 5-4Uncalibrate 5-4Register Object... 5-5

3-2-1 Registration 5-6Best fit of several reference objects 5-6Reference Positioning 5-7Best fit against another object 5-8

Unregister object 5-8Group / Ungroup 5-9Draw 5-9

. . .

. .


Pick Color 5-9Fill 5-9Properties 5-9

6 Select menu 6-1Selection modes 6-2

Selection modes: Draw 6-3Selection modes: Rectangle 6-3Selection modes: RoundRectangle 6-4Selection modes: Ellipse 6-4Selection modes: Polygon 6-5Selection modes: Region growing 6-5Selection modes: Adaptive Rectangle 6-6Selection modes: Adaptive Polygon 6-7Selection modes: Adaptive line 6-8Selection modes: Crack detection 6-8Selection modes: Erode/Dilate 6-9

Create ROI from calibration 6-9Create ROI from defect mask 6-10Enable ROI rendering settings 6-10Disable ROI rendering settings 6-10Add ROI to ROI 6-10Subtract ROIs from ROI 6-10Intersect ROI with ROI 6-10Split ROI 6-11Merge ROIs 6-11Invert ROI 6-11Extract ROI 6-11Import ROI template(s) 6-11Export ROI templates(s) 6-12

7 Filter Menu 7-1Common user interfaces 7-2

Status Information 7-2Preview 7-2Source data 7-3Destination data 7-3

Adaptive Gauss 7-3Options 7-3Iterative method 7-3

Convolution 7-4Filter size 7-4


Filter kernel 7-4Filter data range 7-4

Gauss 7-4Filter size 7-4

Deviation 7-4Filter size 7-4

Median 7-5Filter size 7-5

Erosion 7-5Filter size 7-5

Dilation 7-5Filter size 7-5

Apply opacity mapping 7-5

8 Instruments menu 8-1General 8-2

Handling of instruments 8-2Display of instruments 8-2Annotations 8-3

Indicator 8-3Distance instrument 8-3Angle instrument 8-4Polyline instrument 8-4Min/max distance instrument 8-5Caliper instrument 8-6Activate navigation cursor 8-6Snap 8-7

Snap modes > Min 8-7Snap modes > Max 8-7Snap modes > Gradient 8-7Snap modes > Nearest 8-7Snap modes > Local 8-7

9 Analysis menu 9-1Nominal/Actual comparison 9-1Wall thickness 9-1Defect detection 9-1New Annotation 9-2Volume analyzer 9-2

. . .

. .


10Animation Menu 10-1Keyframer mode 10-1Render Animation 10-2Load Camera Trajectory 10-3Save Camera Trajectory 10-3Copy current state 10-3Paste state 10-4Paste substate 10-4Default curves 10-4

Default curves: Circle 10-5Default curves: Spiral 10-5Default curves: Clip 10-5

11Tools menu 11-1

12Window menu 12-1Slices Left/Right/Below 12-2Quad / Quad Profile 12-2Layout editor... 12-2Background 12-2Coordinate System 12-2Zoom 12-2Ruler 12-3Display mode 12-3

Original 12-3Color 12-3Color and Opacity 12-3

Annotations 12-3Level/Window mode 12-3Slice step width 12-4Text overlay 12-4

13Help Menu 13-1About 13-1Product registration 13-1Show manual 13-1

14Volume Rendering tool 14-1Preset selection 14-1Opacity manipulation area 14-2


Manipulation of the opacity transfer function 14-2Gray value histogram and zoom 14-2Intervals 14-3Isosurface 14-3ROI render settings 14-3

Appearance 14-3Ambient 14-4Diffuse 14-4Specular 14-4Transparency 14-5Swap 14-5

Rendering settings 14-5Isosurface renderer 14-5Volume renderer (Phong) 14-6Volume renderer (Scatter HQ) 14-6Hardware renderer (Scatter HQ) 14-6X-Ray 14-6Sum along Ray 14-6Maximum Projection 14-6Scatter (v1.2) 14-6Scatter HQ (v1.2) 14-6Scatter Gradient (v1.2) 14-7

Remarks on renderers 14-7Oversampling 14-7Normalize gradients 14-7

Limitations of specific renderers 14-7

15Surface Extraction tool 15-1Status information 15-1General 15-1

Preset selection 15-1Surface definition 15-2Extraction parameters 15-2Result destination 15-2

Extraction 15-2Resampling 15-3Point reduction 15-3

Simplification 15-3Simplification 15-4

16Scene Tree tool 16-1Entries in the Scene Tree 16-1

Delete 16-1

. . .

. .


Rename 16-1Visibility 16-1Status indicators 16-2Elements 16-2

Menu options 16-3New > 16-3

General options 16-3Analysis and measurement options 16-4Region of Interest options 16-4

Import > 16-4Export > 16-4Align slices to object 16-5Visibility on / off 16-5Cut / Copy / Paste 16-5Delete 16-5Rename 16-5Group / Ungroup 16-6Reset 16-6Merge polygon objects 16-6Properties 16-6

General properties (volume objects) 16-6General properties (Polygon models) 16-7File list 16-7

Coordinate measuring options 16-7Show / Hide fitpoints 16-7Save fitpoint information 16-7Refit reference element(s) 16-8

ROI options 16-8

17Clipping tool 17-1General 17-1

Clipping plane 17-1Rotate mode 17-1Move mode 17-2

Clipping box 17-2Rotation mode 17-2Translation mode 17-2

Aligned clipping box 17-2Status Information 17-3General 17-3

Appearance 17-3Opacity 17-3Reset 17-3

Aligned Clipping box 17-3


Boundary 17-3Reset 17-3

18Polygon Rendering tool 18-1Status information 18-1General 18-1

Preset selection 18-1Render solid 18-1

Shading model 18-2Cull face 18-2

Render wireframe 18-2Render point cloud 18-3

Material 18-3Material face settings 18-3Color and Intensity 18-3Slice color 18-4

19Transform tool 19-1Status information 19-1Coordinate system 19-1Position (Pos) 19-1Rotation (Rot) 19-1Center 19-2Resolution 19-2

20Light tool 20-1Status information 20-1General 20-1

Preset selection 20-1Type 20-1Color and Intensity 20-3Shadow mode 20-4

Advanced 20-4Attenuation 20-4Spot 20-5

21Camera tool 21-1General 21-1

Camera Orientation 21-1Default camera views. 21-1Position 21-1Focal point 21-1

. . .

. .


Up vector 21-1Projection mode 21-2

Perspective 21-2Parallel 21-2Stereo-perspective 21-2

View Angle 21-2Stereo 21-2

Image mode 21-2Anaglyph image red-green, red-blue, red-cyan 21-2Interlaced 21-2Left image only 21-2Right image only 21-3OpenGL 21-3

Settings mode 21-3Fixed focal depth 21-3Fixed viewer-scene scaling 21-3

Eye distance 21-3Display distance 21-3Focal depth 21-3Scene Zoom 21-3

22Animation Tool 22-1General remarks 22-1Velocity curve 22-2Playback manipulation area 22-3

Reset velocity curve 22-3Toggle fixed camera lookat 22-3Play mode 22-3First frame 22-3Previous key 22-3Previous frame 22-3Play (backwards) 22-3Next frame 22-4Next key 22-4Last frame 22-4Render animation 22-4Size (X/Y) 22-4DPI 22-4Current time (minutes+seconds+frames) 22-4Total time (minutes+seconds+frames) 22-4FPS 22-4


23Volume Analyzer tool 23-1Data histogram 23-1

Histogram area 23-1Context Menu of Histogram area 23-1

reset zoom level 23-1reset range poles 23-1snap poles to cursor 23-2lock selection 23-2Export values as CSV 23-2

Values 23-2Min, Max 23-2Mean 23-2Deviation 23-2Volume 23-2Number of voxels 23-2Between Cursors 23-3Bounding Box [x], [y], [z] 23-3

Cursor Range 23-3Histogram Range 23-3

Connected component analysis 23-3Data table 23-3Context menu of data table 23-3

Columns > 23-3save as default column layout 23-4original column layout 23-4export as CSV 23-4copy to clipboard 23-4

Gray value range 23-4Min/Max gray value 23-4

Volume range 23-4Min/Max volume 23-4

Defects 23-4S Voxel 23-4S Volume 23-4S Surface 23-4S PX, S PY, S PZ 23-5

Material 23-5Iso value 23-5Volume 23-5Defects 23-5Porosity 23-5

24Layout Editor 24-1Preset Selection 24-1Split Mode 24-1

. . .

. .


General options 24-2Window Types 24-2Layout area 24-3

Linked features 24-3

25Text Overlay Editor 25-1Slice Views (and Scene View) 25-1

Preset Selection 25-1Text labels 25-2

Available default text labels: 25-2Preview 25-3

26Measurements menu 26-1New point 26-2New line 26-3New circle 26-3New plane 26-3New sphere 26-3New cylinder 26-3New cone 26-3Dialog: Fit reference object 26-3

Creation 26-4Name 26-4Fit method 26-5Auto fit points 26-5Fit point filter options 26-6Fit points options 26-7Axis constraint 26-7

Refitting 26-7Define reference object 26-8

Name 26-8Type 26-8Coordinate System 26-8Position 26-8Orientation 26-8Length 26-9Radius 1/2 26-9

Dialog: Reference object properties 26-9Properties 26-9

Description 26-9Construction method 26-9Size status 26-10Fit status 26-10


Position / Radius / Conicity / Direction / Normal 26-10Deviations 26-10

Fit points 26-11Remove and fit 26-11Add and fit 26-11

Histogram 26-11Binning 26-11

Cumulated 26-12Colors 26-12

Dimensioning 26-12CM Reporting 26-13

General remarks 26-13Table selection 26-14Editing 26-14Screenshots 26-14Context menu 26-14Column-order 26-14Row-sorting 26-14Special columns 26-14

Features 26-15Current feature(s) 26-15Feature list 26-15

Reference objects 26-19Reference object list 26-19

Capture images 26-21Report 26-21

Report sections 26-21Detail images settings 26-21Logo 26-21Cells 26-21

Adjust resolution 26-22Target volume 26-22Iterate at most 26-22Measures differ less 26-22Feature 26-23Actual length 26-23Nominal length 26-23Relevant axis 26-23New mapping 26-23Delete mapping 26-23

Resize reference objects 26-23Source object 26-24Action 26-24

Resize to resulting fit points 26-24Resize to original fit points 26-24

. . .

. .


Resize to visible fit points 26-24Enlarge by reference object 26-24Resize by reference object(s) 26-24

Status 26-25Accept 26-25

Reference object manipulation 26-25Intersect 26-26

Plane - Plane 26-26Plane - Plane - PLANE 26-26Circle - Plane 26-26Line - Line 26-26Line - Plane 26-26Cylinder - Plane 26-26Cone - Plane 26-27

Combine 26-27Point - Point 26-27Line - Point 26-27more than two Points 26-27

Projection 26-27Point - Line 26-27Point - Plane 26-27Line - Plane 26-27

Symmetry-object 26-27Transformation 26-28

Reference object actions 26-28Show/hide fitpoints 26-28Save fitpoint information 26-28New ROI from reference object 26-28Refit reference object(s) 26-29

Export measurement template 26-29Import measurement template 26-30Coordinate system editor 26-30

Available Coordinate Systems 26-30Built-in coordinate systems 26-30Custom coordinate systems 26-31Temporary coordinate system 26-31Create 26-31Rename 26-31Delete 26-31Copy 26-32Install 26-32

Properties 26-32General 26-32Settings (Alignment) 26-33Settings (Manual) 26-33


Settings (Registration) 26-34Reset 26-34Apply 26-34

Show coordinate system origin 26-34

27Nominal/actual comparison module 27-1Settings 27-2

Preset Selection 27-2Calculation parameters 27-2Options 27-2

Colors 27-2LUT 27-2Sections 27-3Options 27-3Clamp colors 27-4Tickmarks on color bar 27-4Preset selection 27-4

Histogram 27-4Type 27-4Binning 27-4Context menu 27-4

Cumulated 27-5Type 27-5Cumulation 27-5Deviation / Percentage 27-5Context menu 27-5

General table features 27-6Annotations 27-6Capture images 27-8Report 27-8


28Defect detection module 28-1Settings 28-2

Preset Selection 28-2Algorithm 28-2Calibration parameters 28-3Defect mask selection 28-4Analysis parameters 28-4Additional defect properties 28-7

. . .

. .


Process 28-8Colors 28-8

LUT 28-8Sections 28-8Options 28-9Other colors 28-9Tickmarks on color bar 28-10Preset selection 28-10

General table features (Context Menus) 28-10Defects 28-11Statistics 28-13

Options 28-13Defects 28-13Material 28-13

Annotations 28-14Capture images 28-15Report 28-15


29Wall thickness module 29-1Settings 29-2

Preset Selection 29-2Material 29-2Wall thickness 29-2Component analysis 29-2Algorithm details 29-3

Colors 29-3LUT 29-3Sections 29-3Options 29-4Tickmarks on color bar 29-5Preset selection 29-5

General table features 29-5Components 29-6Annotations 29-7Capture images 29-9Report 29-9

Report sections 29-9Detail images settings 29-9


Logo 29-9Cells 29-9

30CT-reconstruction 30-1Reconstruction approach 30-1

Projection preprocessing 30-1Projection files 30-2

Projection files 30-2Sorting 30-2File format 30-3Data type 30-3Endian 30-3Header skip 30-3Orientation 30-4Mirror 30-4Ignore border pixels 30-4

Calibration 30-4Geometry 30-5

Required parameters 30-5Optional parameters 30-5Manual result volume specification 30-6

Reconstruction options 30-6Interpolation mode 30-6Filter mode 30-6Clamping 30-6Speckle removal 30-7GPU acceleration 30-7

ROI and skip 30-7Reconstruction volume ROI 30-7Projection skip 30-7Reconstruction skip 30-7

Result options 30-8Import mode 30-8Result data type 30-9Slice export options 30-9

Dialog: Projection preview 30-9Apply ROI and orientation 30-10

31Shortcuts 31-1Shortcuts in 2D / 3D window 31-1

<Ctrl> + scroll wheel 31-1double-click middle mouse button 31-1

. . .

. .


Shortcuts in 2D window 31-1scroll wheel 31-1hold middle mouse button + move mouse 31-1

Shortcuts in 3D window 31-1hold middle mouse button and move mouse up/down 31-1<Ctrl> + move/rotate object 31-1<Shift> + move/rotate object 31-1double-click object 31-1<Ctrl> + double-click object 31-2scroll wheel (if light source selected) 31-2

Shortcuts in Scene Tree 31-2double-click object 31-2

Shortcuts for menu entries 31-2<Ctrl> + N 31-2<Ctrl> + O 31-2<Ctrl> + S 31-2<Ctrl> + <Shift> + S 31-2<Ctrl> + Z 31-2<Ctrl> + Y 31-2<Ctrl> + X 31-2<Ctrl> + C 31-2<Ctrl> + X 31-2<Ctrl> + V 31-3<Del> 31-3<Ctrl> + <Shift> + R 31-3<Ctrl> + <Shift> + M 31-3<Ctrl> + <Shift> + A 31-3

32Glossary 32-1C 32-1E 32-1P 32-1R 32-2

33File Extensions 33-1


Release 2.0 VGStudio MAX Manual 1-1

. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .WELCOME 1

hank you for choosing V o l u m e G r a p h i c s products. This document is the main manual of VG S tud io MAX 2 .0 and contains a reference guide to the options, menus and dialogs as well as a guide to further

resources such as instructions for (un)installation and maintenance, help/support options and tutorials.

All documentation is part of the product, please read it carefully. Make sure to have the complete documentation available throughout the lifetime of this product. In case of change of ownership (as far as compliant with the terms and conditions) make sure to provide the new user with the full installation package including all supplementary material. Updating your software installation might include a new documentation version or addi-tional material. Please make sure to always use matching versions of both product and supplementary materials.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . About this product

VG Stud io MAX is a software package for the visualization and analysis of voxel data. It is used in a variety of application areas such as industrial CT, medical research, life sciences, animation and many other.

Before f i rs t usageThe installation instructions will tell you how to install VG Studio MAX 2 .0 and how to obtain a license.

Feature Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Product name

VGStudio MAX

Release 2.0.1Optional modulesa

a. Available at surcharge. May not be part of your installation. Ask Volume Graphics for details.

Defect detection, Wall-thickness analysis, Coordinate measuring, Actual/Nominal comparison, CT-Recon-struction

Scope of deliveryb

b. Refer to the installation instructions to learn how to receive a license that will activate your product

Installation package (download or CD-ROM), platform-specific as ordered, online documentation and supple-mentary material such as sample data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

TABLE 1-1: PRODUCT DETAILS

T

WE L C O M EAbout this product

1-2 VGStudio MAX Manual Release 2.0

1

Preparat ions/WarningsLoading and processing data in VG Studio MAX 2 .0 might change the data without the option to recover their original state. Before using the software with your own data, always make a backup copy to avoid unintended changes.

Working with voxel data requires considerable system resources. Shut down all other applications using large amounts of main memory or pro-cessor power before launching VG S tud io MAX .

In case of system breakdowns or overcharge of your system, you might not be able to save or recover your work. Save your work regularly, especially after time-consuming or elaborate processes.

Your work with VG S tud io MAX might be subject to legal restrictions or com-pany-specific conditions. Contact your supervisors for details.

Addi t ional in format ion and supportThis manual is part of the documentation of VG Stud io MAX . Other docu-ments address specific tasks or topics. Refer to the installation directory of VG Stud io MAX to browse the documentation.

Related documents:

Holders of an update/support contract receive priority support. Contact V o l u m e G r a p h i c s via e-mail:

[email protected]

Convent ions used in the documentat ionThroughout the documentation, you will find the following conventions:

• Main menus and tools have their own chapter.

• Cross-references like “see chapter...” are linked, click the link to follow it.

• Menu entries, labels, etc. are highlighted with a sans-serif font and blue color.

If you are looking for... ... refer to:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Installation instructions <documents in installation direc-

tory>Tutorials <documents in installation direc-

tory>. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TABLE 1-2: AVAILABLE DOCUMENTATION

. . .

. .WE L C O M EAbout this product


Train ingV o l u m e G r a p h i c s provides training in the use of VG Studio MAX 2 .0 . Ask for the next public course or order on-site training at your premises:

[email protected]

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . T R A I N I N G L E V E L S

VG Stud io MAX 2 .0 training courses are available as

• Introductory training (2 days)

• In-depth training (3 days)

• Introductory training plus add-on modules (3 days)

No preliminary knowledge is required.

V o l u m e G r a p h i c s also offers

• Workshops

• Customized training

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P U B L I C T R A I N I N G

V o l u m e G r a p h i c s offers training courses several times a year at their head-quarters in Heidelberg, Germany. The classes are open for typically 4–6 participants from different companies. Minimum class size is 4 partici-pants.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O N - S I T E T R A I N I N G

Training at your own premises may not only be a more convenient but also a more cost effective and time saving solution, especially if you have a group of participants. The training will be held by a V o l u m e G r a p h i c s employee traveling to your location.

WE L C O M EAbout this product


1


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .WORKSPACE 2

he workspace of VG Stud io MAX 2 .0 is divided into several workspace windows with which you inspect and manipulate the objects you are analyzing. Access the tools you need for your tasks from the Icon-

bars or the Tooldocks (see Tooldocks on page 2-12 and Icon bars on page 2-13).

Resize the different workspace windows by moving the mouse cursor over their respective window borders. The cursor will change to a resize cursor indicating by its shape the directions in which you can drag it to resize the workspace window.

Clicking inside a workspace window will mark it as currently selected workspace window. This is indicated by the blue frame around the selected workspace window.

Customize the arrangement of the workspace windows by either applying a Layout preset or by using the Layout editor (see chapter Layout Editor). Access the Layout editor and the Layout presets from the Layout iconbar.

Each workspace window is decorated with a set of controls allowing you to modify the content or the behavior of a workspace window. For an over-view of the available controls see Table 2-1: Workspace Window Controls on page 2-1.

Option Icon Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Toggle fullscreen state

Toggle fullscreen state of respective window

Focus selected object

Focus on selected object

Reset zoom Resets zoom of 2D windowZoom in Zoom into 2D windowZoom out Zoom out of 2D windowLock slice posi-tion

Locks the slice position.

Set brightness Set the Level/Window (aka Brightness/Con-trast) values for the 2D windows

Toggle transfor-mation mode

Toggle the mode in which you can move/rotate the selected object. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

TABLE 2-1: WORKSPACE WINDOW CONTROLS

T

WO R K S P A C E3D Window


2

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3D Window

The 3D window shows the result image of the rendering process. Specify rendering parameters for voxel data sets with the Volume Rendering tool (see Volume Rendering tool on page -1). Specify rendering parameters for polygonal models with the Polygon Rendering tool (see chapter Polygon Ren-dering tool).

The coordinate system tripod in the lower left corner of the 3D window indi-cates the orientation of the currently chosen coordinate system. Select a coordinate system from the Coordinate system iconbar to change the cur-rently selected coordinate system.

Object se lect ionIf you select an object in the Scene Tree (and it is chosen to be visible by activating the checkbox in front of it), the corners of a box surrounding it will be shown in the 3D window. Most of these corners will be bright red if you are in the Rotate mode and bright green if you are in Move mode. The lines that are not in that respective color represent the x (dark red), y (dark green) and z (blue) axes of the object’s coordinate system.

Tips and tricks You can also select an object by double-clicking onto it in the 3D window with the left mouse button. By holding down <Ctrl> while doing so you, you can select multiple objects. Double-Click the background to deselect all objects.

Original display mode

Select original color mode to display the slice image in its original, brightness and contrast settings.

Color mode/ Color and Opacity mode

Switch between Color mode and Color and Opac-ity mode.

Create/replace clipping plane

Create/replace a clipping plane based on the current slice view.

4/2/1 pixels per ray

Specify the amount of downsampling in the 3D window.

Freeze render-ing

Enable/disable the rendering process.

Center and Focus camera

Centers the selected objects and makes them fully visible.

Option Icon Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TABLE 2-1: WORKSPACE WINDOW CONTROLS

. . .

. .WO R K S P A C E3D Window


Move / Rotate modeThere are two basic modes for the 3D window: The Rotate mode and the Move mode. Choose a mode by clicking the respective icon in the icon bar

, by choosing the respective entry from the Object menu or by using the <Ctrl>+<Shift>+R / <Ctrl>+<Shift>+M shortcuts.

Tips and tricks You can also switch between the Rotate mode and the Move mode by double-clicking into the 3D window with the middle mouse button.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M O V E M O D E

When in Move mode, drag the selected object by using the left mouse but-ton. To move the object in smaller steps, hold <Ctrl> while doing so.

Hold down the middle mouse button and move the mouse up or down to zoom into or out of the scene.

Tips and tricks If you want to zoom in on a specific point of the object, position the mouse pointer over it, hold <Ctrl> and rotate the mouse wheel.

Hold down <Shift> in Move mode to move the object along either the vertical or horizontal direction of the 3D window image plane.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R O T A T E M O D E

When in the Rotate mode, left-click the selected object, hold it and move the mouse to rotate the object into the respective direction. To rotate the object in smaller steps, hold <Ctrl> while doing so.

Hold down the middle mouse button and move the mouse up / down to rotate the object clockwise / counter-clockwise.

Hold down <Shift> in Rotate mode to rotate the object along either the vertical or horizontal direction of the 3D window image plane.

An object will always be rotated around its center: see Center in chap-ter Transform tool on page 19-2.

Warning An object can only be transformed (i.e. moved/rotated) within the scene if it is unlocked in the Scene Tree. If it is locked, you will transform the camera instead. If there is only one object visible, you might not notice a difference between the two cases, but it becomes important when there are multiple objects involved, when you perform measurements or when you are in the Scene coordinate system.

WO R K S P A C EContext menu of 3D window


2

You can also transform objects through keyboard input: See chapter Trans-form tool.

PreviewThe Preview factor is a reduction factor by which the rendering of voxel data sets is reduced while manipulating a scene. Higher reduction factors will lead to a smoother interaction. This is especially helpful on computers with a low overall performance.

4 / 2 / 1 p ixe ls per raySpecify if you want to render every 16th, every 4th or every pixel. The former option leads to the fastest rendering, the latter to the most accurate.

Freeze render ingClick this button to stop rendering of your object. This can be useful if you want to make changes to your data without showing the results in the 3D window after each step.

Center and focus cameraClick this button to center the currently selected object and make it become fully visible within the 3D window.

Toggle fu l lscreen stateToggle the fullscreen mode of this window.

Tips and tricks You can also use the F11 key to toggle the fullscreen mode.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Context menu of 3D window

Right-click anywhere in the 3D window to access its context menu.

Annotat ionsIn this submenu, you can Minimize, Maximize or automatically Arrange anno-tations. You can also Configure the settings for this.

Freeze render ingStops the rendering process.

Tr ipod/Box > Show t r ipodToggles the display of the coordinate system tripod.

. . .

. .WO R K S P A C E2D Windows


Tr ipod/Box > Show boxToggles the display of the grid box of the coordinate system with tick marks.

Tr ipod/Box > Conf igureBrings up the preference dialog for the coordinate system display.

Cl ipping > Create c l ipping planeCreates a clipping plane, see Clipping plane on page 17-1

Cl ipping > Create c l ipping boxCreates a clipping box, see Clipping box on page 17-2

Cl ipping > Create a l igned cl ipping boxCreates an aligned clipping box, see Aligned clipping box on page 17-2

Text over lay > Defaul t / PresetEither select the Default text overlay preset or a user defined text overlay preset.

Text over lay > Conf igure . . .Shows the Configure text overlay dialog see chapter Text Overlay Editor

Background colorDisplays a dialog window in which you can choose whether you want the background of the 3D window to be a single color, a horizontal or a vertical gradient and lets you pick the respective color(s).

ResetResets all transformations applied to the selected object.

Copy to c l ipboardCopy a screenshot of the 3D window to the clipboard.

Proper t iesDisplays information about the selected object. For more information, please refer to Properties on page 16-6 in chapter Scene Tree tool

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2D Windows

The 2D windows show slices of the currently visible objects as seen from the Front (along the y-axis), Top (along the z-axis), respectively Right (along the x-axis) of the current coordinate system. These are the three views

WO R K S P A C E2D Windows


2

active by default. Using the Layout editor, you can also add Back, Bottom and Left views.

Voxel data is shown in gray values, whereas polygonal models, ROIs and selections are displayed as colored outlines in the 2D windows.

You can scroll through sections in a certain direction by scrolling the mouse wheel while the mouse pointer is in the respective window or by changing the value in the text box in the lower left corner of the 2D win-dow.

Use the scroll bars below and on the right hand side of each 2D window to move the content of the window.

Tips and tricks Using the middle mouse button, you can also drag the slice view around in the window.

Focus se lected objectBy clicking this button, you can center the slice view of the selected object in the 2D window.

Reset zoomUse this button to reset the zoom of the 2D window.

Zoom in / outUse these buttons to zoom into or out of the respective 2D window.

Tips and tricks If you want to zoom in on a specific point of the object, position the mouse pointer over it, hold <Ctrl> and rotate the mouse wheel.

Lock s l ice posi t ionLocks the slice position for this 2D window. That means that for example moving the Navigation cursor will not cause this 2D window to switch to the respective slice. However, it is possible to modify the slice position delib-erately by entering a value in slice position spin box.

Set br ightnessThis feature can be enabled/disabled in the Preferences: see General in chapter Edit menu on page 4-3

Click this button, if you are in Original display mode or Color mode. The Level/Window settings are set for a selected object in the 2D view.

A window appears in which you can specify the Level/Window (i.e. Bright-ness/Contrast) values for the 2D windows.

. . .

. .WO R K S P A C E2D Windows


Click the button to reset the Level/Window values for the selected object. Click the button to disable Brightness/Contrast rendering completely (The brightness button is shown crossed-out). Click the button to accept the Level/Window values and close the settings window.

Tips and tricks You can also hold down the left mouse button over a 2D window and move it vertically to modify the Level values and horizontally for the Window values.

Toggle t ransform modeWhen you activate this button, you can use the 2D window to Rotate or Move an unlocked object with respect to the currently chosen coordinate system. This is not possible if you are in the coordinate system of the selected object.

Switching between the Rotate and Move mode and their usage is analog to the 3D window: Choose a mode by clicking the respective icon in the icon bar , by choosing the respective entry from the Object menu or by using the <Ctrl>+<Shift>+R / <Ctrl>+<Shift>+M shortcuts.

Tips and tricks You can also switch between the Rotate mode and the Move mode by double-clicking the middle mouse button.

When you are in the Move mode, you can drag the object using the left mouse button. You can hold down the middle mouse button over the object and move the mouse up or down to move the object forward or backward.

When you are in the Rotate mode, you can left-click the selected object, hold it and move the mouse to rotate the object around the red cross dis-played in this mode. You can hold down the middle mouse button over the object and move the mouse up / down to rotate the object clockwise / counter-clockwise.

Tips and tricks If the selected object is a ROI, you can in either mode hold down <Shift> while scrolling the mouse wheel to rescale the ROI - additionally holding down <Ctrl> results in rescaling in very fine steps.

Tips and tricks Furthermore, you can mirror a selected ROI in transform mode using the x and y keys.

WO R K S P A C EContext menu of 2D window


2

Origina l d isplay modeToggle between displaying the slice images in their original brightness, contrast and color settings and showing them in the settings specified in Display mode.

Color mode / Color and Opaci ty modeChoose which of the user-defined Volume Rendering settings you want the 2D windows to display: only the colors or the colors and the opacity set-tings.

Create c l ipping p laneClick this button create a clipping plane aligned to the view represented by the selected 2D window. Use this to orientate yourself within the 3D win-dow or to show the interior of the object at the current slice position.

Toggle fu l lscreen stateToggle the fullscreen mode of this window.

Tips and tricks You can also use the F11 key to do so.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Context menu of 2D window

If you right-click anywhere in the 2D window, you can access its context menu.

New region of interestCreate a region of interest from your current selection. Refer chapter Select menu for further details about the available selection modes.

AddAdd you current selection to the currently selected region of interest.

SubtractSubtract your current selection from the currently selected region of inter-est.

ReplaceReplace the currently selected region of interest with your current selec-tion.

CloseCloses the selection mode.

. . .

. .WO R K S P A C EContext menu of 2D window


Warning The context menu options New region of interest, Add, Subtract, Replace and Close are only available if a selection mode is active. See chapter Select menu for further details about the available selection modes

Zoom > Zoom in /outZooms into or out of the 2D window.

Zoom > Fi t object to windowBy clicking this button, you can center the slice view of the selected object in the 2D window.

Zoom > F i t scene to windowBy clicking this button, you can center the slice view of the whole scene in the 2D window.

Zoom > ResetResets the zoom settings.

Coordinate systemHere you can specify a reference coordinate system for the respective 2D window. Other 2D windows will not be affected by this choice. Select Fol-low global coordinate system to reference the coordinate system active in the Coordinate system iconbar.

Display mode Choose if you want the display of the 2D windows in original settings, overlaid with colors defined in the Volume Rendering Tool or overlaid with both colors and opacity settings defined in the Volume Rendering Tool. See Display mode on page 12-3 in chapter Window menu.

Sl ice step widthHere, you can define the step width to be used when scrolling through slices in the 2D views. It is only active when you are not in a “Grid of ...” coordinate system.

Level /Window modeHere you can toggle the Set Brightness window. For further information please see Set brightness on page 2-6.

BackgroundSet the background color of the 2D windows here.

WO R K S P A C EProfile Window


2

Annotat ionsIn this submenu, you can Minimize, Maximize or automatically Arrange anno-tations. You can also Configure the settings for this.

Text over lay Here you can toggle the display of text information (Show text overlay), choose from different Text Overlay presets and Configure those presets.

Cl ipping > Create c l ipping planesee Create clipping plane on page 2-8

In terpolat ion modeHere you can choose if you want VG S tud io MAX 2 .0 to always (On) interpo-late between voxels, never (Off) or decide automatically when to do so.

Region Of InterestManipulate ROIs here. For more information about ROI manipulation please refer to chapter Select menu.

Tr ipod over lay > Show t r ipodToggles the display of the coordinate system tripod.

Tr ipod over lay > Conf igureShows the preference dialog for the coordinate system display.

ResetResets all transformations applied to the selected object.

Copy to c l ipboardCopy a screenshot of the active window to the clipboard.

Proper t iesDisplays information about the selected object. For more information, please refer to Properties in chapter Scene Tree tool on page 16-6.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Profi le Window

In the profile window you can see the data profile along the line defined by a distance instrument tool. See chapter chapter Instruments menu for more information about the available instrument tools.

Access the profile window by either selecting the Quad profile preset from the Layout iconbar or use the Layout editor to create such a window.

. . .

. .WO R K S P A C EContext menu of Profile window


The profile window is active only in conjunction with distance instrument tools like the distance tool, the min/max distance tool or the caliper tool. If nei-ther one of them is available, the profile window will display the message “No profile available!”.

The position of the handles of each distance instrument tool will be dis-played by a vertical green dashed line (labeled A) for the first point of the distance and a vertical red dashed line (labeled B) for the second point of the distance. The number next to each line denotes the Gray value or Opacity at this point. Between both lines, the measured Distance will be displayed together with the name of the respective instrument.

The lines A and B correspond directly to the start and end points of the respective distance instrument in the slice window, i.e., moving the points in the slice view moves the lines in the profile window and vice versa. You can left-click on each line and drag it to an arbitrary position (exception: you cannot drag a line above or beyond the other line).

Mater ia l modeClicking this button toggles between the gray value profile and the opacity profile.

LockEnable this option to prevent the histogram to update when the current Dis-tance Instrument is deselected in the Scene Tree.

Zoom in / outThese buttons can be used to zoom in or out on the x or y axis.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Context menu of Profi le window

If you right-click anywhere in the Profile window, you can access its context menu.

Copy to c l ipboardCopy a screenshot of the active window to the clipboard.

Reset zoom levelResets the zoom level.

Create interva lThis option enables you to create a new analysis interval.You can drag such an interval or just its borders using the left mouse button.

WO R K S P A C ETooldocks


2

Tips and tricks You can uniformly resize a selected analysis interval by scrolling the mouse wheel. Holding down <Shift> while doing so will do this faster.

On the right hand side of a selected analysis interval, statistical information about the voxels lying within its border will be displayed: The minimum (min), maximum (max) and mean value within the interval as well as the standard deviation (dev), the correlation (cor) and the slope of the regression line. To display the values of several intervals hold down <Ctrl> while clicking inside the desired intervals.

Warning When changing between gray value and opacity mode, all user-defined intervals disappear.

Delete intervalDeletes the currently selected analysis interval.

Export va lues as CSVExports the values as CSV (Comma Separated Values) list.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tooldocks

The Tooldock, per default on the right hand side of the workspace, is used to dock tools. You can minimize the tools, close them or have them free floating over the workspace by clicking the respective icons in their upper right corner. You can arrange the tools in an arbitrary order by dragging & dropping non-minimized tools.

You can open further tool docks below or on the left hand side of the work-space by simply dragging & dropping tools there.

Due to their format, most tools can only be put in vertical tooldocks, whereas the animation tool fits only into the tooldock below the workspace.

You can resize tooldocks or hide them completely by clicking the border between them and the workspace and moving them into the desired direc-tion.

Tips and tricks The animation tool is per default hidden in a minimized tooldock below the workspace. See chapter chapter Animation Tool for further details.

. . .

. .WO R K S P A C EIcon bars


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Icon bars

The icon docks are used to dock icon bars. Icon bars consist of one or more icons that represent shortcuts to functions most of which are otherwise accessible via the menus. You can distribute icon bars in icon docks. Per default, there is only one icon dock at the top of the workspace. You can however open further icon docks below, on the left or right hand side of the workspace: Simply drag and drop an icon bar there.

By right-clicking an icon dock, you can choose which icon bars should be visible and which not by checking or unchecking the boxes in front of them.

Tips and tricks Once you are done organizing the icon bars, you can right-click the respective icon docks and choose Line up to align the icon bars without gaps.

Display uni tIn the icon dock you can find the Display unit toolbar. You can use this to select the unit in which to display length, area and volume values. Set addi-tional parameters about units via Edit > Preferences.

WO R K S P A C EIcon bars


2


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .FILE MENU 3

he File menu of VG Studio MAX 2 .0 provides basic features for loading and saving projects as well as for importing and exporting objects. Thus the File menu allows you to handle the two basic file types:

object files and project files (and folders).

• Object filesThese files contain voxel data representing your real object, basically the output of the CT-scanner (after scanning and reconstruction) or some other device, or contain other data representing your real object, such as poly-gons.

The number of files per object varies. You might have one file containing the whole object (volume file formats) or an image stack (e.g., bitmaps or tiffs) where each file represents one slice of the scanned object. Scanner settings and additional information might be included in the data files or in separate files.

• Project files (and folders).vgl files contain basic information on the project including references to the object files and supplementary files belonging to the project. For sup-plementary files a project folder will be created as a subdirectory of the directory in which you saved the .vgl file.

Warning A .vgl file must always be accompanied by the project folder and the file(s) containing the object(s). You cannot open a .vgl file without the associated project folder, and you cannot load an object into the scene without the files containing the object data.

Tips and tricks If you need to move your project to another location, use the Pack and go tool.

.vgl files and project folders replace the .vgi files of earlier versions of VG Stud io MAX containing the scene.

The project will include references to all imported objects, modifications such as rotation, opacity settings and analysis results. Items in the Scene Tree (see chapter Scene Tree tool) like light sources or measurement fea-tures are saved as well as the layout of the 3D and 2D windows.

T

F I L E M E N U


3

Warning You can load a scene from a .vgi file, but it will be saved as a project (.vgl file and folders) which cannot be read by previous versions of VG Stud io MAX .

A scene can contain one or multiple objects. You can work with only one project at a time.

See Table 3-1: File menu options for a list of File menu options, to be described in the following. Menu entries currently not available are dis-abled and displayed in gray (e.g., saving is only possible after loading a project or an object).

Option Icon Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . New Create a new projectOpen... Open an existing project (or scene)Save Save the current project under the same file-

nameSave as... Save the current project and specify a filenameMerge object... Merges objects from a different project file

into the current sceneSave object... Save the currently selected object into a dedi-

cated project filePack and go... Gathers all project data dependencies and

saves them into a compact project file.Import (+ submenu)

Import an object (several format options)

Export (+ submenu)

Export an object(several format options)

Save image(s)...

Save selected views (e.g., slice views) as images(several format options)

Save AVI/image stack

Save selected visible items of the scene into an image stack or .avi file

Print image(s)... Print selected views (e.g., slice views) as images

Quit Exit the application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TABLE 3-1: FILE MENU OPTIONS

. . .

. .F I L E M E N UNew


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . New

Choose this option if you want to exit the current project and create a new empty scene. You would typically proceed by importing one or several objects and finally save all as a project.

In case you modified the current project, VG Studio MAX 2 .0 will ask you if you want to save it before creating the new one. Click Yes to save the cur-rent project under the same filename, No to exit this project without saving and Abort to return to the current project without creating a new one.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Open.. .

Opens a project saved in a .vgl file (or scene saved in a .vgi file with previ-ous versions of VG Studio MAX ). This will load the objects referenced in the file, apply the respective settings and display analysis results (if any). If you open a .vgl file (or a .vgi file), make sure the project directory and object file(s) are available as well.

.vgl files are used for projects in VG Studio MAX 2 .0 , but you can also read scenes from .vgi files which were used by previous versions of VG S tud io MAX .

Tips and tricks An alternative way of reusing information saved in .vgi or .vgl files is to import the object(s) referenced via File > Import > VGI volume / VGL volume. Opening .vgi or .vgl files will load the objects and all scene settings. Importing from a .vgi or .vgl file will only load the volume data objects without any scene settings. The import option gives you the chance to modify parameters like data type, data range or region of interest.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Save

Saves the current project under the same .vgl filename and in the associated project folder.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Save as.. .

Saves the current project under a new filename and therefore creates a new .vgl file and project folder. After saving, the application will show the newly created project. Any further changes will apply to the new project.

F I L E M E N USave object...


3

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Save object. . .

Creates a new project under a new filename containing the object currently selected in the Scene Tree (see chapter Scene Tree tool) including associ-ated items such as analysis results and measurement features.

The object must be a top-level object in the Scene Tree and can be a volume object or a polygon model. If another object is associated with the selected object, it will be included in the new project as well. For example, when a voxel object is selected for which an actual/nominal comparison (see chap-ter Nominal/actual comparison module) to a polygon model exists, both the voxel object and the polygon model will be included in the saved project, as will be the actual/nominal comparison.

This option allows you to export one single top-level object only with its associated objects and is not available for more than one otherwise inde-pendent top-level objects selected in the Scene Tree.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Merge object. . .

Merges objects from another project into the current scene. Select the project from which to import the object(s). You can import all objects from the other project or a selection only. In the Merge object dialog box, select the objects of the project to be imported.

The available objects are top-level objects in the Scene Tree and can be vol-ume objects or polygon models. If another object is associated with the object to be merged, a message box will appear indicating the name and type of the associated object.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pack and go

Save the current project including objects into a directory so that you can, for example, pass it on to a customer, or copy it onto your laptop computer for demonstration purposes. If your current project contains any modifica-tions after the last performed save, Pack and go will prompt you to save the project to ensure consistency between current and packed project.

Pack and go will prompt you for a filename of the project file (*.vgl) and create the project folder next to the project file. The folder will contain all objects in the scene and all supplementary data.

If you open the packed project, the scene will look exactly as in the original project.

. . .

. .F I L E M E N UImport


There is no technical difference between projects created by saving and projects created by packing. Pack and go helps you to transfer a project to another computer and makes sure you take all necessary files and objects with you. Just copy the project file and the project folder to the new desti-nation.

It is possible to optimize the overall project size by activating the compres-sion level checkbox and choosing a compression level. The compression level only affects the volume data of your packed project, it does not affect poly-gon objects or analyses. Pack and go will estimate the resulting project size. The project will not be larger than the size indicated in the dialog. The higher the compression level, the smaller the overall project size. If com-pression is used, the object data will be exported as JPEG2000 files with the specified compression level.

Warning If compression is active, you will loose information because the applied compression scheme is not a lossless one. If you want to preserve the volume data as is, disable the compression level checkbox.

After packing, the application will still show the original project. In con-trast to Save as..., Pack and go will not switch to the newly created project. Any changes after packing will apply to the original project, not to the packed project.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Import

Imports an object into the current project. The object can be voxel data or a polygon object. You can import several objects into one scene.

You can also (re-)import objects referenced in a .vgi or an .vgl file. This will import the objects only, disregarding the scene settings. ROIs con-tained in the object will be locked. If your CT scanner automatically gener-ates .vgi files, we recommend you do not open it but use the import option so that you can optimize data range and other settings.

Throughout the entire import process, defaults will be set to the values you specified in the last import or, where applicable, to information automati-cally retrieved from the files (such as resolution which is included in some file formats).

Tips and tricks During the whole import process, VG S tud io MAX will scan the data file(s) (e.g., to provide you with default values and a preview). Copy the files to your local harddisk to speed up the process as well as to avoid problems caused by networking or CD/DVD drive lags.

F I L E M E N UImport


3

A sophisticated import wizard will lead you through the import process (see Import options on page 3-8) of volume data. If the wizard has gathered enough information about the volume to be imported, it can display the Memory needed to load the data based on the specifications so far and the Memory available on your system. If the memory needed exceeds the mem-ory available, the field will be highlighted in red. Reduce the amount of data by mapping to a “smaller” data type, by applying a region of interest or a skip factor.

Warning Although you can load and display an object if the memory available is larger than the memory needed, analysis tasks require additional memory.

These options will be available during the import and are explained below (see Import options on page 3-8) in the sections for the respective dialogs. The memory values will be updated continuously.

Basically there are two ways in which volume data is represented on a stor-age medium. Either it is stored as a set of files, each representing a part of the complete volume, or it is stored within one file containing the whole volume block.

Import : Image stackImports an object represented by a stack of images. Each image corre-sponds to a slice of the original object. The images must have identical file formats.

Warning It is possible to have images differing in size and resolution but this will result in resampling of the data which might be time and memory consuming.

Supported image formats (in alphabetical order):

• Varian/BIR images (*.*, *)16 bit grayscale imagesfrom Varian/BIR CT systems

• Bitmap (*.bmp)color and grayscale images

• JPEG images (*.jpg)color and grayscale images

• JPEG2000 images (*.jp2)8/16 bit grayscale images8 bit RGB8 bit RGBA

. . .



• Portable PixMaps (*.ppm) / Portable NetWork (*.pnm)color and grayscale imagesbinary 24 bit

• Raw data (*.raw, *.*, *)signed/unsigned 8/16 bit integersigned/unsigned 32 bit integer32 bit float32 bit RGBA

Tips and tricks Use this option for importing slices in raw format. If a single raw file contains the whole object, use the raw volume import instead.

• Shimadzu images (*.cb)grayscale imagesfrom Shimadzu CT systems

• Tiff images (*.tif)signed/unsigned 8/16 bit integer8/16/32 bit RGB8/16/32 bit RGBA

• Toshiba images (*.inf)signed 16 bitfrom Toshiba CT systems

• DICOM image stack (*.*, *)signed/unsigned 8/16/32 bit integertypically from medical CT systems.

Import : Volume f i leImports an object represented in a single file. The file containing the vol-ume might be accompanied by meta files containing data like resolution etc.

Supported volume formats (in alphabetical order):

• ANALYZE™ volume (*.*, *)unsigned 8 bitsigned 16/32 bit24 bit RGB8For further information visit Biomedical Imaging Resource at the Mayo Clinic website: www.mayo.edu/bir

• Varian/BIR volume (*.*, *)16 bit grayscale imagesfrom Varian/BIR CT systems.



3

• REK volume (*.rek)unsigned 8/16/32 bit integerfrom Fraunhofer CT systems or Werth CT systems.

• HDF volume (*.*, *) (HDF 4.x)signed/unsigned 8/16/32 bit integer32 bit floatFor further information on the Hierarchical Data Format visit the website of the HDF group at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu

• Hitachi volume (*.sbm)1, 2, 4, 8, 16 bit grayscale imagesfrom Hitachi CT systems.

• Phoenix|x-ray volume (*.vgi)imports volumes specified within a .vgi project file.

• Raw volume (*.*, *)signed/unsigned 8/16 bit integer, signed/unsigned 32 bit integer,32 bit float, 32 bit RGBA

• Shimadzu volume (*.cb)16 bit grayscale imagesfrom Shimadzu CT systems.

• TEMographie (JEOL) volume (*.*, *)signed 16 bit integerfrom JEOL System Technology Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) systems.

• Toshiba volume (*.img and associated *.inf files)signed 16 bit integerfrom Toshiba industrial CT systems.

• Yxlon volume (*.flt)imports volumes from Yxlon line detector CT-systems.

Warning Please note that for Yxlon line detector data, you have to enter the correct X- and Y-Size manually as specified in the text file accompanying the data. Only the Z-dimensions are detected automatically.

Import opt ionsDepending on the file(s) you want to import and the options you specified so far, the VG Studio MAX ’import wizard will show you a series of dialogs.

. . .



The dialogs and their options are explained below. Note that you will only see the dialogs relevant to your object.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F I L E S E L E C T I O N ( F O R I M A G E S T A C K S )

In the File selection dialog, choose the file type and then click the Add but-ton and/or the Directory button to add files into the list of files to be imported.

The Add button will open a file selection dialog. Select all files you wish to import, then click Open. This will add the selected files to the list of files to be imported. You can click the Add button again to add further files. Note that if you select the same file twice, it will be imported twice. If the file format contains the z-position, a warning will be given.

The Directory button will allow you to navigate to a directory and add all files with the specified extension (e.g., *.bmp) located in this directory to the list of files to import.

Click Remove to remove the currently selected file(s) from the list. This will not delete files from your disk.

Click Remove All to remove all files from the list. This will not delete files from your disk.

The list includes information for each file if applicable for this data format. This includes the full filename with directory, image size, slice position and resolution.

The order of the files in the list determines the order in which they will be loaded. Choose the appropriate Sort option, or stay with unsorted to import the files in their current order.

• Alphabetic up / Alphabetic down

Sorts the files in ascending/descending alphabetical order. Fits in most cases, but causes problems if the slice numbers are not padded to an equal number of digits (such as ...8, 9, 10, ... instead of 08, 09, 10).

• Canonic up / Canonic down

Sorts the files first according to length of the filename, then filenames of the same length in alphabetical order. You will find this option useful if you have filenames like file1, file2, ... file9, file10, file11, ...file99, file100, ...

• Numbers up / Numbers down

Use this option if you want to sort only by the trailing numbers and ignore the rest of the filename. This will scan each filename from its last symbol until it reaches a letter. All numbers found so far will be taken into account for sorting.



3

• Reverse up / Reverse down

Sorts the files in reverse numerical order, i.e. for reverse up first all files with last digit 0, then files with last digit 1, ... Files with the same last num-ber will be sorted according to their second last digit. Example for reverse up: file0, file00, file10, file1, file001, ... You would get the same result if you extracted the trailing numbers, put their digits in reverse order (123 321) and then sort them alphabetically.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F I L E S E L E C T I O N ( F O R V O L U M E F I L E S )

Click the Browse button to select the (single) file containing your object.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D A T A T Y P E

Specify the data type of your object as stored in the file(s). You will later be prompted for the data type in which your object shall be loaded into the scene (e.g., to minimize memory consumption). In this step however, VG Stud io MAX needs to know how to read the data from the file(s). If you are not sure about the parameters, use the Guess type and size button and check the preview (available in one of the next steps). Alternatively ask the per-son who provided you with the data, your CT service provider, the manu-facturer of the scanning device etc. Type and size guessing is not available for compressed data.

Specify binary or ASCII format and in the Endian area the byte order little or big.

If your data is GZIP compressed, there is no need to uncompress it prior to importing. Instead, activate the checkbox GNU zip in the Compression area. Note this will disable the Guess type and size button.

For details on the data types, please refer to Table 3-2: Data types.

Data type Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . unsigned 8 bit / signed 8 bit

8 bit code one gray value, each bit has either value 0 or value 1. Consequently, = 256 different gray values are possible Gray values from 0 to 255 (unsigned) or -128 to 127 (signed)

unsigned 16 bit / signed 16 bit

= 65 536 different gray values. Gray values from 0 to 65 535 (unsigned) or -32 768 to 32 767 (signed). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

TABLE 3-2: DATA TYPES

28

216

. . .



Warning Objects with 32 bit signed/unsigned data have an effective data range of 20 bit for all rendering procedures (full data range for analysis procedures).

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S I Z E

Specify the size of your data set, i.e. the number of voxels along the x-, y-, and z-axes. If you clicked the Guess type and size button in the previous dia-log, these values will be set to the results of the guessing mechanism.

The size of the file header (if applicable) has to be specified in the Header field. Click the Guess button to ask VG S tud io MAX for a suggestion based on an analysis of the files.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L O A D A S . . .

Several parameters determine how the data shall be loaded. For example, the type of data loaded can be different from the type stored on disk. The dialog will show you only the parameters applicable to your data.

Specify the voxel size in the resolution part of the dialog. Some data formats provide this information automatically. In this case the input field will be disabled and show the given numbers, you can correct/modify those num-bers if you activate the Override resolution checkbox.

If the data has significant differences (e.g., factor 3 or more) in voxel size for x, y, and z, the resulting pictures will show elongated steps in the respective dimension. In order to improve the visual appearance, you can activate the Force isotropic resampling checkbox. VG S tud io MAX will then interpolate intermediate slices.

You can import data sets with varying slice distances. If the object has been scanned with small slice distances but in certain areas only, the resolution has wide differences. In this case you would probably not want to resample the data set. Use the option No slice interpolation beyond... . Slice distances larger than the number specified will not be padded with interpolated slices.

unsigned 32 bit / signed 32 bit

More than one million different gray values.Gray values from 0 to 1 048 575 (unsigned) or -524 288 to 524 287 (signed)

32 bit float Effective gray value dynamics 32 bit float, 3D rendering as 16 bit

rgb8 8 bit per RGB component color images for a total of 24bit color.

Data type Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TABLE 3-2: DATA TYPES



3

Warning Forcing isotropic resampling might change analysis results. Use this option only if you want to optimize the visual presentation of the data for creating screenshots, avi files etc.

Use the Data range mapping area to specify the interval of original gray val-ues to be imported and the interval they shall be mapped to. This interval must not exceed the number of gray values of the data type (to be specified in the same dialog). Voxels with gray values outside the interval will also be imported, but with assigned gray values inside the interval. The assigned gray value depends on the mapping specified, see Table 3-3: Gray value handling on page 3-13. As an alternative, you can specify the intervals in the histogram.

Click the Histogram button to open another window showing the gray values and their numbers of occurrences. For details, see Histogram (Import) on page 3-14.

The Data range mapping determines the range of gray values used for your object, i.e. it specifies the maximum number of different gray values avail-able for your object. The size of the data range is always smaller than or equal to the numbers of gray values in the data type. The different data types are explained in Table 3-2: Data types on page 3-10.

Choosing a lower data type (i.e., a data type with a lower number of gray values) than the type in which your files are available may reduce accuracy because your object will be described by a lower number of gray values. In contrast, it is not possible to increase accuracy by selecting a higher data type.

Tips and tricks Loading floating data requires a lot of main memory. If your scanner has 32 bit float as output and your system is not capable of dealing with this amount of data, choose a data type mapping (e.g., 16 bit unsigned).

Select an option to determine how values outside the interval shall be han-dled. As a default, gray values below the lower interval limit will be set to the value of the lower interval limit, gray values higher than the upper

. . .



interval limit will be set to the value of the upper interval limit. This is the option Ramp. The options are listed in Table 3-3: Gray value handling.

You can use this option to invert the data. If your data has low gray values for material and high gray values for air so that you would see black mate-rial and white air, apply the Inverse Ramp to see white material and a black background.

Click the Preview button for 2D previews of your object. The preview is also available in the following steps. For details, see Preview (Import) on page 3-15.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R O I A N D S K I P S E L E C T I O N

This dialog offers options to reduce the memory needed to load the object.

The scanned object will usually be surrounded by air. Reducing (but not eliminating) the surrounding air by applying a Region of Interest (ROI) reduces the memory needed. Only the slices from Min to Max (in x, y, and z direction) will be imported. Use the Preview for graphically supported ROI specification (see Preview (Import) on page 3-15 and How to define a ROI graphically in the preview on page 3-16).

Warning Do not apply a ROI directly on the object’s surface or even cutting into the object. This would destroy the partial volume effect and thus cause imprecise measurement results. Make sure to import the object including some surrounding air.

If your object is surrounded by a large number of background (air) voxels, applying a ROI reduces the memory needed very efficiently without nega-tive effects on the quality. In other cases you might have to apply the Skip option to be able to load a very large object into a low capacity system.

Option ShapeLower gray values will be set to:

Higher gray values will be set to:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Ramp lower interval limit upper interval limit

Inverse Ramp

upper interval limit lower interval limit

Sawtooth lower interval limit lower interval limit

Inverse Sawtooth

lower interval limit lower interval limit

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TABLE 3-3: GRAY VALUE HANDLING



3

Warning Applying a skip factor will reduce the resolution of the voxel data and thus lead to significantly less accurate analysis results.

Specify the number of voxels to be skipped in the respective direction. A skip rate of 0 applies no skipping. A skip rate of 1 for one axis will load only every other slice so that the memory needed is reduced by half. A skip rate of 5 will skip 5 slices, load one slice, then again skip 5 slices etc.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M A N I P U L A T I O N

You can swap or mirror axes in order to display the object in a preferred or real-world orientation.

Mirror axes will mirror the object along the chosen axis or axes (e.g., activat-ing the checkbox for the x-axis will place the voxel with the highest value for x at the origin of the x-axis). You can choose more than one axis to mir-ror.

Swap axes will change the axes in the coordinate system so that instead of xyz, the coordinates will be interpreted in the chosen sequence (e.g., choos-ing xzy instead of xyz will keep the position on the x-axis but change the y coordinate to z and vice versa. The result is a rotation by 90° around the x-axis followed by a mirroring along the y-axis).

Histogram ( Import )Click the Histogram button in the Load as dialog to open another window. The Histogram tab displays the number of occurrences of each gray value in the object as a diagram. The gray values of the object’s voxels are given on the axis of abscissae. The number of voxels with each gray value are given on the axis of ordinates. The dark gray area in the background of the dia-gram shows the number of occurrences of each gray value.

The histogram contains two vertical red lines, initially positioned at the very left and the very right of the diagram. Each red line is labeled with two numbers, the first indicating the gray value at the current position of the line, the second shows how many voxels in the object are of this gray value.

You can move the red lines by left-clicking them. Shift them left or right while holding the left mouse button pressed. Shifting a line to a new posi-tion will adapt the value in the Data range mapping area of the Load as dialog and vice versa. You can also change the ramp type in the Load as dialog while the Histogram is displayed.

Use either of the methods to define an interval of significant gray values, i.e., the interval in which there is a high probability of gray values varying in accordance with a variation of the material. A typical histogram has one

. . .



peak for each material in the data set plus one peak for the air. Make sure not to cut out any of those peaks. Always keep the air peak, VG S tud io MAX needs surrounding air for the interpretation of the partial volume effect which is the basis for analysis results.

The Calibration tab allows you to perform a gray value calibration within the import process. Here you can dynamically select material and background gray values and assign them to destination gray values. Select either the Define background button or the Define material button. Move your mouse cursor over the preview window. Hold down the left mouse button and move the mouse to create a selection rectangle. The area inside the rectan-gle is considered for either background or material selection. By pressing the Apply button the acquired values are applied to the data range mapping on the Load as dialog.

Preview ( Import )The Preview button is available in a number of import dialogs. Click this button for 2D previews and projections of your object in order to:

• Control the parameters specified so farIf you only see black and white stripes or a grainy image, check the data type and/or size specified earlier.

• Define a Region of Interest (ROI)Modify the ROI settings by adapting the blue frame in the slice preview or one of the projections. For detailed instructions, see How to define a ROI graphically in the preview on page 3-16. You can also modify the settings in the dialog ROI and Skip selection (see ROI and Skip selection on page 3-13).

Click the tabs to select one of the views. The following views are available:

1 Slice Preview (top/right/front)

The main area of the Preview tab shows a single slice of your object. Spec-ify the slice number in the lower left input field by using either the number keys, arrow keys or the mouse.

Choose the axis along which to slice by clicking the buttons:

• Button T for top perspective

• Button R for right perspective

• Button F for front perspective

You can enhance the contrast automatically:

• Button C for auto contrast



3

By default, the preview will be rendered taking into account the data range settings (see Histogram (Import) on page 3-14). Activating auto contrast will analyze the data set and apply a ramp mapping to the data range cov-ered by the voxels in the current slice.

2 Projection preview (top/right/front)

Click the Top projection tab for a projection along the z-axis. All xy-planes of your object will be projected into one 2D view.

Click the Right projection tab for a projection along the x-axis. All yz-planes of your object will be projected into one 2D view.

Click the Front projection tab for a projection along the y-axis. All xz-planes of your object will be projected into one 2D view.

Import : Polygon/CADImports a polygon file into the scene. You would use polygon files in VG Stu -d io MAX typically for nominal/actual comparisons.

Supported formats (in alphabetical order):

• Stereolithography File Format (*.stl, *.STL)In case you are not sure whether your STL file is ASCII or binary coded, choose this general Stereolithography file format for an automatic detec-tion.

• Stereolithography ASCII File Format(*.stl, *.STL)ASCII coded Stereolithography (STL) files.

HOW TO DEFINE A ROI GRAPHICALLY IN THE PREVIEWIf the scanned area contains a lot of background, importing the full data set would result in unnecessarily high memory consumption. To reduce memory load, define a Region of Interest (ROI) to be imported.

A ROI defined during import is always a cuboid (in contrast, ROIs used for analysis tasks can have arbitrary shapes, see chapter Select menu). The maximum size for a ROI is the size of the scanned area.

You can define a ROI based on numerical input in a dialog (see ROI and Skip selection on page 3-13) or graphically in the preview (see Preview (Import) on page 3-15). Here, the graphical approach will be explained.

In any of the four preview tabs (slice preview, top/right/front projection), use the mouse to resize or move

the blue frame surrounding the scanned area. If the blue frame is not visible, use the +/- buttons and the scrollbars to adjust the view.

Resizing Left-click a corner or an edge of the blue frame surrounding the scanned area and draw the mouse pointer.

Moving Left-click into the area surrounded by the blue frame and draw the mouse pointer. You can only move the frame if the ROI is smaller than the scanned area.

Any modifications are always valid for all slices along the chosen axis.

The ROI should preferably be controlled in the projection views to ensure the full extent of the object is visible. Modifying the ROI in a single slice might accidentally cut off protruding parts of your object visible only in other slices.

. . .

. .F I L E M E N UExport


• Stereolithography Binary File Format (*.stl, *.STL)Binary coded Stereolithography (STL) files.

Import : CT Reconstruct ionReconstruct volumetric data from projection files. This is an optional add-on module. See chapter CT-reconstruction for details.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Export

Exports a single object, parts of an object or multiple objects of the current scene as data files. The object(s) will be converted into the selected format.

Menu entries for export to voxel data formats are enabled for voxel objects only, to polygon formats for polygon objects.

Tips and tricks If you want to create a polygon model from a voxel object, use surface extraction instead (see chapter Surface Extraction tool).

Export : Image stackExports an object into a series of numbered files for a given orientation. Available orientations are top, right and bottom orientation.

Supported image formats (in alphabetical order):

• Bitmap (*.bmp)unsigned 8 bit integer8 bit RGB

• DICOM (*.dcm)signed/unsigned 8/16 bit integer

• JPEG images (*.jpg)unsigned 8 bit integer8 bit RGB

• JPEG2000 images (*.jp2)signed/unsigned 8/16 bit integer8 bit RGB8 bit RGBA

• Raw data (*.raw), ASCII Raw data (*.raw), Compressed Raw data (*.gz)signed/unsigned 8/16/32 bit integer32 bit float data32 bit RGBA data

F I L E M E N UExport


3

• Tiff images (*.tif)signed/unsigned 8/16/32 bit integer8/16/32 bit RGB8/16/32 bit RGBA

Export : Volume f i leSupported formats (in alphabetical order):

• ANALYZE™ volume (*.hdr)signed/unsigned 8/16/32 bit integer8 bit RGBFor further information visit the Biomedical Imaging Resource at the Mayo Clinic website: www.mayo.edu/bir

• HDF volume (*.hdf))8/16/32 bit signed/unsigned integer (HDF 4.x)8/16 bit RGB8/16 bit RGBAFor further information on the Hierarchical Data Format visit the website of the HDF group at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu

• Raw data (*.raw), ASCII Raw data (*.raw), Compressed Raw data (*.gz)signed/unsigned 8/16/32 bit integer32 bit float data32 bit RGBA data

Export : D ICOM Image ser iesSupported format:

• DICOM (*.dcm)signed/unsigned 8/16 bit integer

Export : AVI movieCreates an AVI movie for an object selected for export, scrolling through the object grid coordinate system. Select the orientation (top, front or bot-tom) and the frame rate. The frame rate is the number of frames (“pic-tures”) per second (fps). A higher frame rate will produce smoother movements, a larger AVI file and will take longer to render.

Tips and tricks Only the data itself is considered for the images. If you need to capture analyses results or any kind of overlay as well, choose the Save AVI/ image

stack tool instead.

Supported format:

. . .

. .F I L E M E N UExport


• AVI movie (*.avi)Uses the codecs installed on your system. Operating systems usually pro-vide a set of standard codecs. Codecs are not part of the VG Stud io MAX prod-uct package.

Export : Al igned / Mul t ip le volumesExports multiple volumes as one volume, arranged as in the scene in any orientation. You can choose to export image stacks or export to a single volume file. You can use any combination of volumes and ROIs selected within the Scene Tree except polygon objects.

The Source volumes table displays the currently selected objects for this export.

The Destination system combo box lets you specify a target coordinate sys-tem for the volume to be exported.

Destination orientation defines the major axis of the Destination system along which the volume should be exported. Possible orientations are top, right and bottom.

Tips and tricks Use this export to combine partial scans of your object, for example, if the object was too large for scanning it as a whole, or if parts of your object were scanned with different resolutions.

The Grid size and Sampling distance parameters specified within Destination grid geometry give you control over how fine the data shall be resampled. A larger grid size results in more sample points, a smaller grid size results in fewer sample points. A smaller sampling distance will create more sample points and a larger sampling distance will create fewer sample points.

The Destination datatype lets you specify the data type of the resulting vol-ume.

In case the scanned areas have overlapping areas, you have to determine which gray value will be assigned to the respective voxel in the new data set. Use the mouse to sort the objects in the Source volumes table. Their order determines their priority: The first entry gets overwritten by the sec-ond entry, the second entry gets overwritten by the third entry and so on.

Supported formats (in alphabetical order; details on the formats see Export: Image stack on page 3-17):

F I L E M E N UExport


3

• Raw (*.raw)

• ASCII Raw (*.raw)

• Compressed Raw (*.gz)

• Bitmap (*.bmp)

• JPEG (*.jpg)

• JPEG2000 (*.jp2)

• Tiff (*.tif)

• DICOM (*.dcm)

• Analyze (*.hdr)

• HDF (*.hdf)

• AVI movie (*.avi)

Tips and tricks Export AVI movie restricts you to a single object with a given (top, right and front) orientation. The Save avi option under Export Multiple Volumes however allows you to use more than one object and furthermore an arbitrary destination coordinate system. By rotating the object in the Scene

coordinate system, it is hence possible to generate movies running at an arbitrary angle through your object(s).

Export : PolygonExports a polygon model in the selected format, thereby converting it from another surface format, if necessary. This menu option is only enabled when a polygon/surface object is selected. Select the coordinate system for the orientation of the object and the unit. The numbers will be recalculated into the selected unit. The unit will be included in a comment so that you can retrieve it from the file when needed.

Supported formats (in alphabetical order):

• Point cloud ASCII (*.txt, *.TXT)x, y, z coordinates of one vertex per line (coordinates separated by blanks), six decimal places.

• Stereolithography ASCII (*.stl, *.STL)ASCII STL (polygons)

• Stereolithography binary (*.stl, *.STL)Binary STL (polygons)

• OOGL ASCII (*.off, *.OFF)Object Oriented Graphics Library (ASCII)

• OOGL binary (*.off, *.OFF)Object Oriented Graphics Library (binary)

. . .

. .F I L E M E N USave image(s)...


• VRML V1.0 (*.wrl, *.WRL)Virtual Reality Modeling Language (ASCII)

• VRML V2.0 (*.wrl, *.WRL)Virtual Reality Modeling Language (binary)

• Stanford PLY ASCII (*.ply, *.PLY)Stanford PLY (ASCII)

• Stanford PLY binary (*.ply, *.PLY)Stanford PLY (binary)

• Wavefront Object (*.obj, *.OBJ)Alias Wavefront

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Save image(s). . .

Captures your current workspace area into an image. The Views area dis-plays the currently available workspace windows. By clicking the check-box beside each entry you can select the window to be taken into account for the final image. The Preview area shows the screenshot so far.

The Decorations area contains options for displaying additional information within the screenshot. By choosing the option show logo in headline you can define a custom logo that will appear above the headline specified inside the headline text field. By selecting show legend, the current slice position, the current coordinate system and the window type will be attached below the image for the respective window.

The Overlays area gives you the option to enable/disable graphical overlays like analyses results, reference objects, the isosurface and measurements. This does not influence the objects in your scene. Disabling for example the measurements will only disable them within the screenshot.

Within the Custom image size area you can specify an image size differing from the suggested one. Image width and height can be coupled to keep a reasonable aspect ratio for the image. The dpi value controls the size of han-dles, fonts and other display-relative elements. You can use it to save images at higher resolutions and still retain the proportions of these ele-ments.

Tips and tricks If you select only one window within the Views area, you can change the image width and height parameters independently from each other by clicking the lock/unlock button to the right of the width/height input fields.

Supported formats:

F I L E M E N USave AVI/image stack ...


3

• Bitmap (*.bmp)

• JPEG (*.jpg)

• JPEG2000 (*.jp2)

• Portable Pixmap (*.ppm)

• Tiff (*.tif)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Save AVI/ image stack . . .

Saves the slices of one of the 2D views into an AVI movie or an image stack.

Select the 2D view to specify the orientation. The images will be created parallel to this view.

Select Display mode to specify the coloring of the resulting image (for details on display modes see Display mode in chapter Window menu on page 12-3).

The Overlays area gives you the option of enabling/disabling graphical overlays like analyses results, reference objects, the isosurface and mea-surements. This does not influence the objects in your scene. Disabling for example the measurements will only disable them within the screenshot.

Define the resulting Image size (in pixels). By clicking on the button to the right of the width/height parameters you can specify whether the image size should be scaled uniformly or not. If uniform scaling is activated, changing the width will change the height of the image in proportion to the width (and vice versa). A larger image size leads to a better resolution.

The Boundary option allows you to define an additional offset applied to the original image. It does not change the image size, instead it enables you to zoom into or out of the current viewport.

The Stack settings specify the number of slices and the slice distance in the given unit. The stack settings apply to the complete data set in the current orientation. Modifying the number of slices will recalculate the slice dis-tance and vice versa:

The Slice range parameters specify the part of the slices to be exported. The slices will be resampled, applying the stack settings such that one of the slices will be positioned at the start value. The end value specifies the upper boundary of the slices. The first slice to be exported is defined by the start value, the second slice is at position (start value + slice distance).

distance number of slices 1–( )× height of complete data set=

. . .

. .F I L E M E N UPrint image(s)...


You can also set the start and end values by navigating to the desired posi-tion in the Preview and clicking the s for start or e for end. If the end slice has a lower value than the start slice, the values will be swapped.

Modifying the Slice range will change the number of slices but not the slice distance. The number of slices and distance parameters specify how fine the data should be sampled within the given Slice range.

Supported formats:

• Bitmap (*.bmp)

• JPEG (*.jpg)

• JPEG2000 (*.jp2)

• Portable Pixmap (*.ppm)

• Tiff (*.tif)

• AVI movie (*.avi)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Print image(s). . .

Send a snapshot of the current workspace for documentation purposes to a printer. Select the 2D/3D views to be included into the image. Configure the image by adding Decorations (logo, legend, headline). Your company logo can be included if you activate show logo in headline. Specify a com-pany logo file by clicking the icon next to the field. This will open a file dialog. Add Overlays as needed (analyses, reference objects, measurements, isosurface). See also Save image(s)... on page 3-21.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Quit

Close the application.

F I L E M E N UQuit


3


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .EDIT MENU 4

hrough the Edit menu of VG Studio MAX you can access the undo/redo and cut/copy/paste functions. The menu also enables you to edit general application settings.

Table 4-1: Edit menu options lists the menu entries with a brief descrip-tion. They will be explained in detail later in this chapter.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Undo / Redo

Most actions can be undone (and then redone to reestablish the situation before undo). Actions which change the underlying data or otherwise require a lot of memory (e.g., filtering) may not be available for undo/redo.

The amount of memory allocated for the undo queue can be set by editing the Preferences as described later in this chapter (see Preferences on page 4-3). Should the last issued command require more storage space within the undo queue than currently available, then VG S tud io MAX will start erasing entries in the queue beginning with the oldest command in the queue and proceed chronologically until enough storage space becomes available. If a command requires more space than is available for the undo

Option Icon Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Undo Undo the latest action/commandRedo Redo the latest action/commandClear undo queue

Delete all entries stored in the undo queue

Cut Copy the currently selected object(s) into the buffer and remove it from the scene

Copy Copy the currently selected object(s) into the buffer

Paste Copy the object(s) from the buffer into the scene

Delete Remove the currently selected object(s) from the scene (with partial buffering, see Undo/Redo)

Preferences...(+ dialogs)

Set general application parameters and options

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TABLE 4-1: EDIT MENU OPTIONS

T

E D I T M E N UClear undo queue


4

queue, then the command will not be stored and the current command his-tory is erased.

If you think you might want to undo an action which requires a lot of mem-ory, save your project prior to the action. You will then be able to restore the former state by reverting to the saved project.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Clear undo queue

The command history of the current VG S tud io MAX 2 .0 session is stored in the undo queue. Clear undo queue will erase the accumulated command his-tory. The command history will be erased automatically if an action requires more memory than is available to the undo queue.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cut / Copy / Paste

Cuts/copies the selected object(s). The object(s) can then be pasted to a new location in the Scene Tree (see chapter Scene Tree tool) by first select-ing the new parent object followed by clicking paste.

Reference objects will be refitted to their new parent object and the associ-ated features are recalculated (see chapter Measurements menu for details on reference objects and features).

If you perform a copy while an analysis is selected in the Scene Tree, the parameters used for this analysis (but not the actual result of the analysis) will be copied.

Tips and tricks To reuse parameter settings of an analysis, select the analysis result in the Scene Tree and then perform a copy and paste action. The Scene Tree will show a new analysis entry. Double-click this entry to open the dialog, adapt the parameters and run the analysis.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Delete

Deletes the selected object(s) from the scene. The object(s) can be (par-tially) restored using Edit > Undo. Analysis results (e.g., from a wall thick-ness analysis) are not restored.

. . .

. .E D I T M E N UPreferences


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Preferences

Set general application parameters and options according to your prefer-ences. These settings apply to VG Studio MAX in general and not only to a specific project.

You can save these settings as presets in order to load them at a later time. Presets can also be deleted, exported and imported.

General

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G E N E R A L

• Dump core fileSpecify if a core dump should be executed if the program terminated unex-pectedly.

• Auto saveSpecify if and how often VG S tud io MAX 2 .0 should automatically save your work.

• Print / Save image(s)Specify if changes in the Save image(s) dialogue should be saved.

• UndoSpecify how much memory can be used by the Undo function.

• Rendering settings for imported dataSpecify which rendering algorithm and if shadows are to be used by default.

• Slice windowIf you choose Medical mode, the slices in the 2D window showing the xy-plane are looked upon from the Bottom instead from the Top. This only becomes effective if the window is in one of the standard layouts.

The Level/Window mode checkbox determines whether the Set bright-ness button is available in the slice views.

• Icon themeSpecify if you want large or small icons.

• Hardware rendererIn this section you see the Graphics Card that is used by the Hardware ren-derer and you can determine how much of its memory can be used for ren-dering.

• Application user interfaceSpecify if once message boxes should be displayed again after checking the “never show again” checkbox.

E D I T M E N UPreferences


4

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A N N O T A T I O N A R R A N G E M E N T

In this section you can determine the behaviour of the Annotations > Arrange function. The Allow overlap setting specifies, which objects may be con-cealed by the annotations: The Object only, the Colortable only, Both or None.

The Strategy parameter determines where the annotations should be posi-tioned: At the Window border or Around the object.

The Alignment X / Y settings determine how annotations of non-uniform size should be positioned with respect to each other.

The Center parameter specifies if the distribution of the annotations should be determined by the center of the Object, of the Window or Automatically.

The Margin values determine how much space should be between annota-tions, and the Border values determine how far away from the window bor-der the annotations should stay. For both parameters, the first setting determines the x value and the second setting the y value.

The Grid snap checkbox determines if the annotations snap to a grid when you shift them manually. If activated, you can determine the grid spacing by the Grid snap step setting and the grid origin by the Grid snap offset set-ting. For both parameters, the first setting determines the x value and the second setting the y value.

If the number of visible annotations in a window increases above the Max. visible annotations parameter, all annotations are hidden.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C O O R D I N A T E S Y S T E M D I S P L A Y

• BoxHere you can specify the look of the coordinate system box: You can mod-ify the font, color, outline, alignment and style of the labels. Furthermore, you can specify if you want to show the box frame, ticks, labels, grid and back-ground. You can also extend the box by a certain distance in each direction. The color of the box background, box frame, ticks and grid can also be specified.

• TripodHere you can specify the color of the tripod axes.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C T - R E C O N S T R U C T I O N

Here you can define whether the CT-reconstruction algorithm should Write log files and the Temporary directory into which they (and parts of image stacks that are too big to fit into the memory at once) are written. Further-more, you can decide whether to use your graphics processing unit for the reconstruction (GPU acceleration). If the GPU memory is not automatically

. . .



detected correctly, you can use GPU memory override to set it to the correct value.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M Y V G L P R I V I L E G E S

Here you can set the rights for MyVGL users opening a .vgl file created with your copy of VG Stud io MAX 2 .0 . You can decide if you want to Allow render setting modifications and if you want to allow users to import the raw data referenced by the .vgl file (Allow raw import).

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S N A P F R A M E

Here you can set the default mode of the snap frame. Furthermore, you can define its size, either in pixels (Display relative mode) or in physical units (e.g. mm; Scene relative mode).

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . T E X T O V E R L A Y

Here you can define the look of the text overlay: You can set the font size, color and type and specify the distance to the border of the 2D/3D window (Cell border). If you click the Configure button, the Text Overlay Editor will open (see chapter Text Overlay Editor).

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U N I T

Here you can define with which precision a Length, Area, Volume, Angle, Time or Storage value should be displayed. You can do so by setting the number of decimal places or the respective absolute precision value.

Sl ice e lements

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A N I M A T I O N

Here you can define the look of the Animation Trajectory and of the Trajec-tory handles.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I S O S U R F A C E

Here you can define the look of the isosurface line in the 2D windows, both for selected and unselected volumes.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R E G I O N O F I N T E R E S T

Here you can define the look of the ROIs line in the 2D windows, both for selected and unselected volumes.



4

Analysis

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C O O R D I N A T E M E A S U R E M E N T

• FeaturesIn the General section you can specify the size and type of Feature handles. Furthermore, you can decide if handles should Snap to a grid with a speci-fied Grid distance. You can also define the font type, color, size and outline for feature descriptions here.

In the Color, selected instrument section you can determine the look of Fea-tures that belong to a selected instrument: You can specify the color and width of the respective Subsidiary lines, Handles, the selected Feature itself and unselected features belonging to the same selected instrument (Fea-ture). Each subsection allows you to set a specific style for items in the slice plane, behind the slice plane and in front of the slice plane.

Similarly, you can determine the look of Features that do not belong to a selected instrument in the Color, unselected instrument section.

• InstrumentsIn the General section you can specify the length of Instrument handles. Fur-thermore, you can decide if Indicator annotations should be visible in all slices. Also, you can set the size of the Navigation cursor here.

In the Color, selected section you can determine the look of Instruments with features, instruments without features (Instruments) and their Handles. Each subsection allows you to set a specific style for items in the slice plane, behind the slice plane and in front of the slice plane.

Similarly, you can determine the look of unselected Instruments in the Color, unselected section.

• Reference objectsIn the General subsection of both the 2D and 3D display settings sections, you can define how points are displayed in the respective windows. This includes both fit points and auxiliary points , for example the center pionts of cylinders. Furthermore, you can decide if you want to display annotations for selected reference objects in 2D or 3D windows. In the 3D display set-tings, you can also set the Reference object grid spacing and if you want Shaded reference objects (only applies if Fill mode in the Color subsection is set to On).

In the Fitpoint colorbar subsection of both the 2D and 3D display settings sec-tions, you can define how the Fitpoint colorbar is displayed in the respective windows: You can set its visibility, width, length, font style and title (Cap-tion).

. . .



In the Color subsection of both the 2D and 3D display settings sections, you can define the look of Selected, Highlighted and Unselected Reference Objects. Highlighted Reference Objects are those that belong to a selected feature. In the 2D display settings section, you can set a specific style for items in the slice plane, behind the slice plane and in front of the slice plane.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D E F E C T D E T E C T I O N

• 2D display settingsIn the Annotations section you can define the size of the annotation cursor in the 2D windows, whether a newly created annotation should be minimized or maximized (Default annotation size) and whether the annotations should be visible in all slices or just at their cursor position.

In the Colorbar section you can define whether you want the result colorbar displayed in the 2D windows and how you want it to look there: You can define its width, length, position and font style.

• 3D display settingsIn the Annotations section you can define the size of the annotation cursor in the 3D window and whether a newly created annotation should be mini-mized or maximized (Default annotation size).

In the Colorbar section you can define whether you want the result colorbar displayed in the 3D window and how you want it to look there: You can define its width, length, position and font style.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N O M I N A L / A C T U A L C O M P A R I S O N



In the Isosurface section you can define if you want the isosurface in the 2D windows colored according to the local variance value, if you want addi-tionally Haired lines whose length corresponds to the respective variance value or no color coding at all (No line). You can define the width of the col-ored line. For Haired lines, you can also specify the distance between hairs and the multiplication factor between the variance value and hair length (Hair scale factor).



4

• 3D display settingsIn the Annotations section you can define the size of the annotation cursor in the 3D window and whether a newly created annotation should be mini-mized or maximized (Default annotation size). The Cursor color follows overlay checkbox determines whether the 3D cursors should be colored according to their variance or not.


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W A L L T H I C K N E S S



• 3D display settingsIn the Annotations section you can define the size of the annotation cursor in the 3D window and whether a newly created annotation should be mini-mized or maximized (Default annotation size).



. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .OBJECT MENU 5

he Object menu of VG Stud io MAX allows you to manipulate the objects in the scene (like voxel objects or polygon models, but also light sources, clipping planes etc.).

See Table 5-1: Object menu options for an overview.

Option Icon Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rotate Enables rotating the object in 3D.Move Enables moving the object in 3D.Create clipping plane

Creates a clipping plane for the selected object.

Create aligned clipping box

Creates an aligned clipping box for the selected object.

Create clipping box

Creates a clipping box for the selected object.

Create point / directional / spot light

Creates an additional light source of the respective type for the selected object.

Calibrate object Defines the material boundary.Uncalibrate object

Deletes the calibration information.

Register object...

Registers the selected against with another object in the scene, i.e. superposition the two objects.

Unregister object

Deletes the registration information.

Draw Draws the selected gray value directly to the voxels in freehand mode.

Pick color Samples the selected voxel for its gray value and shares the value with the Gray value selec-tion tool. Only availble in the 2D windows.

Fill Fills the selected ROI with the current gray value.

Properties Displays object properties.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TABLE 5-1: OBJECT MENU OPTIONS

T

O B J E C T M E N URotate / Move


5

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rotate / Move

Toggle between rotate mode and move mode for the selected object(s) in the 3D window. The current mode can be identified by the color of the bounding box of the object in the 3D window: A red bounding box indi-cates rotate mode, a green bounding box indicates move mode.

For more details please refer to Move / Rotate mode in chapter Workspace on page 2-3.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Clipping

Either create a clipping plane, a clipping box or an aligned clipping box for the selected object(s). For more information about clipping objects, please refer to chapter Clipping tool.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Create l ight sources

Either create a point light, a directional light or a spot light for the selected object. For more information about light sources, please refer to chapter Light tool.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Calibrate

The calibration defines the material boundary. This boundary will be dis-played as a white line in the 2D windows (except in Original display mode).

Warning Perform measurements and analyses only after calibrating the object. Re-calibrate your object for specific measurement/analysis tasks if necessary.

You can use an automatic calibration or a calibration based on sample areas. Advanced calibration options include local thresholding and calibra-tion based on a region of interest. Advanced calibration requires additional licensing. Ask V o l u m e G r a p h i c s for details.

Standard ca l ibrat ionThe result of the standard calibration is a material boundary defined by one gray value applied globally to the object and delineated by the bright cali-bration line. This one gray value serves as a threshold: Brighter areas are considered as material, darker areas are considered as background. The cal-ibration allows a calculation of the material boundary in sub-voxel accu-racy by trilinear interpolation.

. . .

. .O B J E C T M E N UCalibrate


The table in the upper part of the dialog provides statistical information on the calibration. The Status is undefined until the calibration is performed. Depending on the calibration mode, the Status is set to either sample area or automatic. In case of a calibration based on sample areas, statistical infor-mation about the voxels covered by the areas is provided: Mean gray value, standard Deviation of the gray values, Minimum and Maximum gray value within the respective areas.

The histogram in the middle of the dialog shows the gray value distribution of the voxels in the scanned volume. Usually the left-most peak represents the background (air) voxels. Modify the zoom of the y-axis by clicking in the histogram and dragging the mouse cursor downwards for full view of large peaks or upwards for identification of minute peaks.

You can control the calibration via the histogram:

• The histogram contains a red Isosurface line indicating the gray value for which the yellow calibration line in the 2D windows is calculated. Use the mouse to shift this line. The slice views will be updated accordingly. Shifting the line to the right will fit the isosurface tighter to the object.

• After a calibration, two blue lines will be positioned in the peaks of what has been defined or detected as background and material. Use the mouse button to shift these lines. The isosurface line will be shifted such that it is always exactly in the middle of the two blue lines, and the slice views will be updated accordingly.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S P E C I F Y S A M P L E A R E A F O R C A L I B R A T I O N

Click the Define material by example area button to perform a manual calibra-tion. You will be prompted to draw a typical background area with the mouse in a slice window. This will create a selection. The standard selec-tion mode for the calibration is the Rectangle. See chapter Select menu for detailed information on how to change the selection mode and how to add or subtract from a selection to create an optimal sample.

Click Next to proceed with a similar selection of a typical material area. Click Finish to actually perform the calibration based on your selections. You can Cancel the calibration so that no changes are applied, or go Back to the preceding step.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A U T O M A T I C C A L I B R A T I O N

Click the Automatic button to perform a calibration based on the histogram. VG Stud io MAX determines the background peak and the material peak in the histogram and then calculates the gray value of the material boundary. Automatic calibration is suitable for volumes containing object(s) with one material only.

O B J E C T M E N UUncalibrate


5

Advanced ca l ibrat ionThe result of the advanced calibration is the material boundary defined by locally adapted gray values and delineated by the bright calibration line. The same gray value will be interpreted differently depending on the sur-rounding voxels. Advanced calibration reconstructs the component geome-try more closely compared to standard calibration because local deviations originating from beam hardening or other artefacts will be largely compen-sated for.

An advanced calibration is a re-evaluation of a boundary defined by one of the following options:

• a standard calibration, or

• the gray value defined by the red Isosurface line in the histogram of the Calibration dialog, or

• a geometrical outline of the object (region of interest or polygon object).

Activate the Advanced mode checkbox and choose the relevant entry from the list. Choose materials as defined in the histogram for an advanced calibra-tion based on the gray values for the different matters (the first two options above). This is a useful approach if your volume data is flawed, for exam-ple by beam hardening artefacts.

To perform an advanced calibration based on a a region of interest (ROI) or a polygon object, select the entry for this object from the list. If the list shows only the option materials as defined in the histogram, the scene does not contain any ROIs or polygons.

Tips and tricks Specific measurement tasks require the object to be calibrated such that pores inside the object are not considered surface areas of the object. In this case first perform a preliminary calibration. Then create a ROI from this calibration and manipulate the ROI to eliminate internal pores. Finally recalibrate the object based on this ROI.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Uncalibrate

Deletes the calibration information. After uncalibrating, the white line delineating the material boundary is no longer visible and the material boundary is no longer defined. Measurements based on the calibration will be invalidated.

. . .

. .O B J E C T M E N URegister Object...


Tips and tricks If you want to view your object without the calibration line, don’t delete the calibration, but switch into Original display mode instead. Accordingly, if you don’t see the line, the object might still be calibrated but currently viewed in Original display mode.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Register Object. . .

Registering an object transforms it into another coordinate system. For example if you want to compare two objects, they should be superposed and share the same coordinate system.

Registration might require additional licensing. Ask V o l u m e G r a p h i c s for details.

The registrable object can be:

• a volume

• a polygon object

Tips and tricks You can register a volume via a region of interest (ROI), that is only the calibrated surface of the volume inside the ROI will used in the calculation of the registration, but registration will be of the complete volume. Using this method excess material or deformed geometry can be excluded and thus won’t negatively impact the registration result.

VG Stud io MAX offers four registration approaches:

• 3-2-1 registrationUsually applicable if the registrable object has registration marks; requires three reference elements (a plane, a line, and a point) against which to reg-ister

• best fit of several reference objectsSpecify arbitrary reference elements against which to register using a gaus-sian best fit.

• reference positioningRegistration using positional matching of similar reference objects.

• best fit against another object (or part of an object)Register against a volume object, a region of interest (ROI) or a polygon object using a Gaussian best fit.

Warning Volume objects have to be calibrated prior to registration.

O B J E C T M E N URegister Object...


5

An object that has been registered against another will be marked in the Scene Tree (see chapter Scene Tree tool) with a closed lock and a red R (for “registered”).

3-2-1 Regist rat ionRegister your object in three steps against a plane, a line and a point (in this order). For each step, specify a reference object in the registrable object and a reference object onto which the first reference object should be matched. For the reference objects against which to register, additional parameters can be specified if necessary after clicking the customize button.

After finishing a step, the controls for the next step become available. The controls for the next step remain unavailable in case the input so far is not completed or is inconsistent.

In the first step, define a mapping between a plane in the registrable object and a reference plane. If the reference plane is not perfectly suitable for the match, edit Position and/or surface Normal.

In the second step, define a mapping between a line in the registrable object and a reference line. The line in the registrable object can be represented by a line or by a line-compatible object, for example a cone. If the reference line is not perfectly suitable for the match, edit Position and/or Direction.

In the third step, define a mapping between a point in the registrable object and a reference point. The point in the registrable object can be represented by a point or by a compatible object, for example a cone. For the reference point, specify the Position.

Click Finish to perform the registration.

Best f i t o f severa l reference objectsUse arbitrary combinations of planes, lines and points to register your object. In contrast to 3-2-1 registration, this registration approach leaves you a higher degree of freedom as to the types of reference elements, their usage and priority. Note that the Finish button will only be enabled when sufficient information has been provided.

Click on New mapping in the Mapping list to create a new mapping, or click on an existing entry to modify the mapping.

Tips and tricks To automatically create paired mappings of objects of the same name, click Auto Pairs.

Specify the parameters of each mapping in the Mapping details area. Define a mapping between a reference element in the registrable object and a com-patible reference element. The Match method Automatic will automatically

. . .

. .O B J E C T M E N URegister Object...


decide whether to use position and/or orientation of the object. Orientation will discard the position information and only consider the orientation of the object. An Exact match will take into account both position and orienta-tion.

The Weight specifies the importance of a mapping relative to the other map-pings.


Reference Posi t ioningUse arbitrary combinations of planes, lines and points to register your object. The center point of the Object reference element is translated in a direction defined by the normal/axis of the Reference reference element until it lies on a plane orthogonal to the translation direction going through the center point of the Reference reference element. See the figure below for an illustration of this registration method.

Tips and tricks This registration method can for example be used to register objects based on datums.

Click New mapping in the Mapping list to create a new mapping, or click an existing entry to modify the mapping.

Tips and tricks To automatically create paired mappings of objects of the same name, click Auto Pairs.

O B J E C T M E N UUnregister object


5

Specify the parameters of each mapping in the Mapping details area. Define a mapping between a reference element in the registrable object and a com-patible reference element. The Match method Automatic will automatically decide whether to use the object or reference orientation. Otherwise specify the Prefer object/reference orientation.

The Weight specifies the importance of a mapping relative to the other map-pings.


Tips and tricks This method works best if the two objects are nearly aligned (e.g. by a quick best fit) and the reference elements are transferred via a measurement template.

Best f i t against another objectFrom the list, choose the object against which to register your object. VG Stud io MAX can perform a best fit of arbitrarily arranged objects. If your objects are already roughly aligned, you can tell the application to Consider current transformation.

Activate Consider surface orientation if the match of two objects causes prob-lems that might be related to misinterpretation of surfaces. If the objects are for example very flat with minimal surface structure, the best fit might erroneously match the lower surface of one object with the upper surface of the other object so that they are positioned on top of each other. In this case, the superpositioned surfaces differ only in their surface orientation. Acti-vate the checkbox to make sure this difference will be taken into account for the match. The Reverse orientations checkbox is activated only if Con-sider surface orientation is checked. Check the Reverse orientations option if one of the objects to be fitted has reverse surfaces, e.g. if it describes the surface of a hollow space in the other object.

The Quality level specifies the compromise between accuracy and perfor-mance.

Note that the Finish button will only be enabled when sufficient information has been provided.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Unregister object

Deletes the registration information. You can also unregister an object by clicking on the lock icon of its entry in the Scene Tree (see chapter Scene Tree tool)

. . .

. .O B J E C T M E N UGroup / Ungroup


Warning All analysis results based on the registered position might accidentally be destroyed after unregistering an object.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Group / Ungroup

Please refer to Group / Ungroup in chapter Object menu on page 5-9

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Draw

Use this tool to draw directly into your data using a spherical brush. Posi-tion the cursor in one of the 2D slice windows. Press and hold the left mouse button while dragging the cursor to overwrite the gray values. The Radius of the brush and gray value (defined in the Color box) written to the data can be changed in the pop-up window. The position and size of the sphere is shown in the 3D window.

Using the Smoothing value you can specify a transitional area around the sphere brush in which a smooth gray value transition is drawn.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pick Color

Samples the gray value of the picked voxel(s) in any of the 2D windows. The sampled gray value is shared with the Draw to data or Fill selected area tools.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fi l l

Launches the region filling tool. Any region picked while the tool is active is flooded with a constant gray value as defined by the current gray level setting. The current gray level setting is shown in the box next to the Fill icon and can be modified there.

Warning Fill will change the gray values of the volume dataset.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Properties

Displays information about the selected object. For more information, please refer to Properties in chapter Scene Tree tool on page 16-6.

O B J E C T M E N UProperties


5


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .SELECT MENU 6

he Select menu of VG Stud io MAX allows you to create 3-dimensional region masks from an object as well as enabling the manipulation of the region masks. A region is a mask covering part(s) of an object

which is of special interest, thus the term region of interest (ROI). A region mask simply marks an area of interest and as such does not contain any actual volumetric data. Besides the possibility of specifying separate ren-dering settings (see chapter Volume Rendering tool) a ROI can be used to confine the calculation of any analysis function to within the volume cov-ered by the ROI.

Tips and tricks The ROI tools of VG Stud io MAX 2 .0 replace and enhance the Segmentation tools of previous versions of VG S tud io MAX .

Table 6-1: Select menu options lists the menu entries with a brief descrip-tion. They will be explained in detail later in this chapter.

Option Icon Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Selection modes (+ submenu)

Choose a mode by which to create a new selection. Includes simple drawing tools as well as advanced modes with automatic adap-tion

Selection mode> Draw

Paint into selection mask using a circular or spherical pencil.

Selection mode> Rectan-gle

Create a rectangular selection in the chosen 2D view.

Selection mode> Round Rectangle

Create a rectangular selection with rounded corners in the chosen 2D view

Selection mode> Ellipse

Creates an elliptical selection in the chosen 2D view.

Selection mode> Polygon

Creates an polygonal selection in the chosen 2D view.

Selection mode> Region Growing

Creates a selection using a region growing (flooding) algorithm.

Selection mode> Adap-tive rectangle

Find the edges of an object inside a rectangular search region using the edges of the rectangu-lar region as initial guess.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

TABLE 6-1: SELECT MENU OPTIONS

T

S E L E C T M E N USelection modes


6

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Selection modes

The Selection modes of VG Stud io MAX are used to create and modify region of interest masks. First a temporary selection is made using one of the Selection modes. A new region of interest is then created directly from the temporary selection or it is added or subtracted from or to the currently selected region of interest.

Selection mode> Adap-tive polygon

Fits an arbitrarily shaped polygon to the edges of/within an object.

Selection mode> Adap-tive line

Fits a line of a given width to the edges of/within an object.

Selection mode> Crack detection

Grows inside dark crack-structures based on an existing region of interest.

Selection mode> Erode / Dilate

Perform a morphological operation on the ROI: Expand or contract it.

Create ROI from calibration

Create a region of interest from the calibration

Create ROI from defect mask

Create a region of interest based on the defect mask

Enable ROI ren-der settings

Add/remove render settings to/from the cur-rent region of interest

Add ROI to ROI Adds a region of interest to another region of interest.

Subtract ROI from ROI

Subtracts a region of interest from another region of interest.

Intersect ROI with ROI

Performs a logical AND between the selected regions of interest.

Split ROI Split the selected region of interest.Merge ROIs Combine regions of interest to one region of

interest.Invert ROI Invert the selected region of interest.Extract ROI Extract the selected region of interest as a new

object.Import ROI tem-plate(s)

Import regions of interest

Export ROI tem-plate(s)

Export regions of interest


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TABLE 6-1: SELECT MENU OPTIONS

. . .

. .S E L E C T M E N USelection modes


The contour of the selection can be created in any of the available 2D views. The selection is then extended into the third dimension by dragging the contour across the dataset in any of the two other 2D views. Unlike the former versions of VG Studio MAX ROIs can be created independently of the slice orientation of the volumetric data set by either (temporarily) aligning the data set to a reference object or by switching to another coordinate sys-tem.

The Selection modes only modify the ROI mask and do not modify the actual volumetric data.

Tips and tricks The keyboard shortcuts supported by the respective tool are displayed in the status bar at the bottom of the application window

Select ion modes: DrawPaints directly into the selection mask using a spherical or cylindrical paintbrush.

To choose between the spherical and cylindrical paintbrush uncheck or check the 2D disc mode option in the Draw selection mode interface.

Press the left mouse button and while keeping the button pressed paint over the area you want to add to the selection. Pressing and holding the <Shift> key will subtract the painted area from the selection instead.

To change the radius of the spherical or cylindrical paint brush use the mouse wheel while holding down the <Shift> key.

Select ion modes: RectangleCreates a rectangular selection in the chosen 2D view.

Press and hold the left mouse button to define the first corner of the rectan-gle, drag across the 2D view and release the mouse button again to set the opposite corner.

By pressing and holding the left mouse button over any of the red corners the rectangular selection can be resized by dragging the corner into a new position.

Press and hold the left mouse button over the yellow rectangle and drag to reposition it.

To extend the selection into the third dimension press and hold the left mouse button over the red top/button markers in any of the two other 2D views. Extend by dragging the marker into the desired position. Alterna-tively use <Shift> + the mouse wheel to extend the selection equidistantly in both directions.



6

Select ion modes: RoundRectangleCreates a rectangular selection with rounded corners in the chosen 2D view.

Press and hold the left mouse button to define the first corner of the rectan-gle, drag across the 2D view and release the mouse button again to set the opposite corner.

By pressing and holding the left mouse button over any of the red corners the rectangular selection can be resized by dragging the corner into a new position.

The radius of the rounded corners can likewise be changed by pressing and holding the left mouse button over any of the red crosses at the ends of each arc. Drag the selected cross to a new position to change the size of the rounded corners.

Press and hold the left mouse button over the yellow rectangle and drag to reposition it.


Select ion modes: El l ipseCreates an elliptical selection defined by the corners of an inscribed rectan-gle in the chosen 2D view.

Press and hold the left mouse button to define the first corner of the inscribed rectangle, drag across the 2D view and release the mouse button again to set the opposite corner.

By pressing and holding the left mouse button over any of the red corners the elliptical selection can be resized by dragging the corner into a new position.

Press and hold the left mouse button over the yellow ellipse and drag to reposition it.


. . .



Select ion modes: PolygonCreates a polygonal selection in the chosen 2D view by connecting multi-ple control points with line segments.

Press the left mouse button to set the first control point in the 2D view at the desired position. Continue adding control points using the left mouse button thus automatically connecting the new and previous points by a line segment.

Press and hold the left mouse button over any of the red control points to move it into a new position.

To close the polygon hold press the <Alt> key and click the left mouse but-ton.

Press and hold the left mouse button over the yellow polygon to reposition it.


Select ion modes: Region growingCreates a selection using a region growing (flooding) algorithm. After selecting an initial seed point in any of the three 2D views the algorithm will expand the selection. The expansion continues as long as new voxels are found which are connected to the growing selection and where the data value is within the specified tolerance relative to the initial seed point or growth criterion.

Select the seed point for the region growing by pressing the left mouse but-ton over the desired location in any of the three 2D windows. To limit the extent of the region growing to within a sphere keep the button pressed and drag to define the radius of the sphere. Once the mouse button is released the region growing will automatically start.

Changing any of the region growing parameters via the Region grower interface will restart the process using the new values/settings and the last seed point.

Voxels are added to the selection by the region growing algorithm depend-ing on the settings of the tolerance value and the selected Mode:



6

• Static modevoxels are added to the growing region if they are connected to the region and their gray value does not deviate by more than half the tolerance from the gray value of the seed point.

• Dynamic modevoxels are added to the growing region if they are connected to the region and their gray value does not deviate by more than half the tolerance from the average gray value of the voxels within the growing region.

• Adaptive modevoxels are added to the growing region if they are connected to the region and their gray value does not deviate by more than half the tolerance from the average gray value of the local voxels of the growing region around the candidate voxel.

• Max radiuschanges the radius of the limiting sphere and restarts the region growing using the last seed point.

To limit the region growing to within the plane of the selected 2D window check the 2D box.

The presence of ROIs can be used to limit the region growing algorithm according to the following modes:

• Ignore ROIsregion growing will not be restricted by any present ROIs.

• Avoid other ROIsregion growing is restricted to within the currently selected ROI and voxels not belonging to any other ROI.

• Stay in ROIregion growing is restricted to within the volume limited by the currently selected ROI.

Select ion modes: Adapt ive RectangleAn iterative procedure to find the edges of an object inside a rectangular search region using the edges of the rectangular region as initial guess. Ini-tially the full rectangular volume is selected. Then after each iterative step background material is removed.

Press and hold the left mouse button in any of the three 2D windows to set the first corner of the rectangular area. Drag and release to set the opposite corner. The rectangular region can be resized by dragging any of the cor-ners into a new position.

. . .




The algorithm will individually search each of the selected 2D slices for the surface of the object using the following settings:

• IsoSpecify a threshold to define where the gray value iso-surface resides.

• DepthThe number of iterations to use in the search.

• VoidDo not penetrate into features smaller than the specified size.

Select ion modes: Adapt ive PolygonFits an arbitrarily shaped polygon to the edges of/within an object.

Press and hold the left mouse button in any of the three 2D windows to set the first point of the polygonal area. Drag the pointer along the edge that you want to trace while holding the mouse button pressed to create further points. Points can be deleted in the reverse order of definition by pressing the backspace key. To continue setting more points, either use the proce-dure above or add individual points by pressing and releasing the left mouse button. Pressing the middle mouse button while holding the <Alt> key will connect the first and last point set thus closing the polygonal shape.

The location of individual points can be modified after the polygonal shape has been closed. Simply press and hold the left mouse button over the point and drag it into a new location.


• Search distancesearch and snap to edges within the given distance of the current pointer position.

• Edge thresholda measure for the gray value gradient defining an edge. At low threshold values only steep gradients are selected.



6

• Smoothinga measure of the stiffness of the individual line segments. At low values each line segment will try to follow the local gradients. At higher values the line segments become straight lines connecting the control points.

Select ion modes: Adapt ive l ineFits a line of a given width to the edges of/within an object.

Press and hold the left mouse button in any of the three 2D windows to set the first point of the line. Drag the pointer along the edge that you want to trace while holding the mouse button to create further points. Points can be deleted in the reverse order of definition by pressing the backspace key. To continue setting more points, either use the procedure above or add individ-ual points by pressing and releasing the left mouse button.

The location of individual points can be modified by pressing and holding the left mouse button over the point and drag it into a new location.


• Search distancesearch and snap to edges within the given distance of the current pointer position.

• Edge thresholda measure for the gray value gradient defining an edge. At low threshold values only steep gradients are selected.

• Smoothinga measure of the stiffness of the individual line segments. At low values each line segment will try to follow the local gradients. At higher values the line segments become straight lines connecting the control points.

• Radiussets the width of the fitted line.

Select ion modes: Crack detect ionGrows inside dark crack-structures based on an existing region of interest.

This selection mode requires an existing region of interest describing one or more (small) “seed areas” inside the crack to be detected. Based upon this region, the crack detection will use a specialized region growing method to fill the crack. The region growing is always three-dimensional.

. . .

. .S E L E C T M E N UCreate ROI from calibration


When crack detection is active, you can see the current detection result as a yellow preview in the 2D views. The red rectangles indicate a limiting box for the growing process. The initial box is determined by the extent of the seed areas. To enlarge the region, left-click and drag the rectangle borders in any 2D view.

• ThresholdControls the sensibility of the growing process. A lower threshold will pre-vent the detection process to grow into regions of low probability. Note that this threshold does not denote gray values, but an abstract “quality num-ber”.

• TypeControls the gradient-criterion to be checked during the growing process. Planar cracks have a two-dimensional structure with neighboring local gra-dients pointing roughly in the same direction. Linear cracks have a one-dimensional structure, thus neighboring local gradients have a rotational degree of freedom along the crack axis. In mode Free, the gradient check is disabled altogether.

Select ion modes: Erode/Di la te In the Erode/Dilate mode the current ROI is expanded or contracted by the specified number of voxels. A positive number will expand the ROI and a negative number will contract the ROI.

In the Opening/Closing mode the ROI is first expanded by the specified (pos-itive) number of voxels and then immediately contracted again. If a nega-tive number of voxels is specified the ROI is contracted and then immediately expanded.

The Opening/Closing mode is particular useful when eliminating voxel sized gaps in a ROI.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Create ROI from calibration

Creates a new region of interest without rendering settings from the current calibration. The region follows the contours of the current calibration to within the accuracy of one voxel. I.e. any voxel which is more than 50% covered by the calibration is included in the region otherwise it is excluded from the mask. To include all of the calibrated object expand the mask using the Erode/Dilate function (see Selection modes: Erode/Dilate on page 6-9).

S E L E C T M E N UCreate ROI from defect mask


6

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Create ROI from defect mask

Creates a new region of interest without rendering settings based on the defect mask supplied by a selected defect analysis.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Enable ROI rendering sett ings

Adds rendering settings to the selected ROI. Material properties like color or transparency can be modified via the Volume Rendering tool (see chapter Volume Rendering tool).

Warning If the parent object is rendered fully transparent the ROI will not be visible in the 3D view until its transparency setting is changed.

The rendering settings of a ROI have higher priority than the settings of the parent object, i.e. the rendering settings of the volume object to which the ROI is attached. Thus it is possible to render a ROI differently than the main volume object without having to extract the ROI first (see chapter Volume Rendering tool for further details on how to modify rendering set-tings).

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Disable ROI rendering sett ings

Removes applied rendering settings from the selected region of interest.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Add ROI to ROI

The selected ROIs (except for the ROI that was selected last) are added to the ROI that was selected last. The selected ROIs (except for the ROI that was selected last) remain in the Scene Tree.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Subtract ROIs from ROI

The selected ROIs (except for the ROI that was selected last) are subtracted from the ROI that was selected last. The selected ROIs (except for the ROI that was selected last) remain in the Scene Tree.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Intersect ROI with ROI

The ROI that was selected last is replaced by the intersection of all selected ROIs.

. . .

. .S E L E C T M E N USplit ROI


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Split ROI

Splits the selected ROI into its disjoint components creating a new ROI for each of the components. Each new ROI is created with an individual copy of the rendering settings (if present) of the original ROI.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Merge ROIs

Merges the selected ROIs into a new ROI. If one or more of the ROIs have rendering settings attached, then the merged ROI will be created with a copy of the rendering settings of the parent volume object.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Invert ROI

Creates a new ROI containing the inverse mask of the original ROI. If the original ROI has rendering settings attached then the new ROI is created with a copy of the rendering settings of the parent volume object.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Extract ROI

Creates a new volume object from the selected ROI. If the original ROI has rendering settings attached then the new volume object is created with a copy of the rendering settings of the original ROI. If no rendering settings are present the new volume object is created with a copy of the rendering settings of the parent volume object of the original ROI.

The new volume object is created referencing the volume data of the origi-nal volume object. Thus any changes to the underlying volume data (e.g. by fill or paint), regardless from where, will affect all the volume objects referencing the data.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Import ROI template(s)

Imports one or more ROIs and their properties as described by their associ-ated vgr file. If a vgr file references only one ROI it will be imported directly into VG Stud io MAX . Should the vgr file reference multiple ROIs, then you will be presented with a list of all ROIs referenced by the vgr file. From this list you then choose the ROIs to be imported.

S E L E C T M E N UExport ROI templates(s)


6

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Export ROI templates(s)

Saves the selected ROI(s) to disk. For each selected ROI a vgm file is cre-ated containing the actual mask. Further more a vgr file is created contain-ing the description of the properties of the masks such as e.g. the rendering settings.


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .FILTER MENU 7

set of different 2D and 3D filter algorithms like Gauss, Adaptive Gauss, Convolution, Deviation, Median, Erosion, Dilation and “Apply opacity mapping” is included within VG Studio MAX . You can

use them to reduce noise or accentuate specific areas within a voxel data set. Filters can only be applied to voxel data sets.

Warning You will not be able to Undo a Filter operation. (Otherwise a copy of the whole initial data set would have to be kept in the memory.)

See Table 7-1: Filter menu options for an overview of available filters.

Warning The memory requirements of certain filter operations may become very large: In some cases you will need up to five times of the memory of the original data set. This is due to the fact that some filter routines have to be calculated in floating-point.

Option Icon Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adaptive gauss The adaptive gauss filters allows blurring the

selected data set without destroying relevant structures like edges.

Convolution Create custom filters with the Convolution fil-ter by specifying the filter mask.

Gauss The Gauss filter allows blurring the selected data set.

Deviation The deviation filter accentuates the areas of contrast and edges in the data.

Median The Median filter reduces noise in a voxel data set by blending the brightness of voxels within the data set.

Erosion Morphological operation which contracts the selected voxel data set.

Dilation Morphological operation which expands the selected voxel data set.

Apply opacity mapping

Apply user defined opacity mapping to selected voxel data set.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

TABLE 7-1: FILTER MENU OPTIONS

A

F I L T E R M E N UCommon user interfaces


7

Each filter dialog is organized into several sections in which you can inspect or modify the filter settings.The dialog consists of common user interfaces like Status information, a Preview area, Source data, Destination data and settings specific for each selected filter. Click the Filter button to exe-cute the filter for the selected voxel data set. Click the Cancel button to close the dialog without performing any filtering. The filter specific com-ponents are described in detail for each filter.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Common user interfaces

Status Informat ionThe Status information section displays the name of the selected voxel data set. Valid selections are either a top level volume object or a region of inter-est.

PreviewThis section shows a preview of the filter operation for the selected object. Experiment with different filter settings and see which one fits best for your purposes before triggering the actual filtering process. Information like the preview mode (either Original or Filtered), the orientation or the current zoom factor are displayed in the title of the Preview area.

See Table 7-2: Preview area Controls for a Preview area feature overview.

Control Icon Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Slice selection box

Select a slice for the preview.

Cycle view ori-entation

Switch between different slice view orienta-tions (top, right, front).

Toggle preview mode

Toggle between filtered and original preview mode.

Set brightness Set the brightness (“Level”) and contrast (“Window”) of the preview window.

Original display mode

Select original display mode. See Original dis-play mode on page 2-8.

Color mode/ Color and Opacity mode

Switch between Color mode and Color and Opac-ity mode. See Color mode / Color and Opacity mode on page 2-8

Focus Fit the preview image to the preview area. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TABLE 7-2: PREVIEW AREA CONTROLS

. . .

. .F I L T E R M E N UAdaptive Gauss


Source dataEnable this checkbox to apply the opacity mapping defined in the Opacity manipulation area of the Volume Rendering tool (see Opacity manipulation area on page 14-2) to the source gray values before filtering. The filtering is then performed on the mapped source gray values.

Dest inat ion dataEnable the Create new volume option to create a new volume which repre-sents the filtered data. This will leave the source data unmodified. If you leave this option disabled the filtering will modify your source data.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adaptive Gauss

The Adaptive Gauss filter is designed to blur an image without destroying relevant structures like edges.

OptionsEnable the Run separable option to run the filter faster. If the option is dis-abled the filter will run slower but will produce more accurate results.

Specify the Smoothing value: a high Smoothing value will result in smoother and more blurred images.

The Edge threshold value specifies to which amount edges are protected from the smoothing process.

I terat ive methodSpecify the Iterations value to define how many times the filter should be executed to determine the value of a voxel. The Multiplier value influences the Smoothing and Edge threshold values such that in each new iteration the Smoothing value is multiplied by the Multiplier value and the Edge threshold value is divided by the Multiplier value.

Zoom reset Reset the zoom factor.Zoom in Zoom into preview image.Zoom out Zoom out of preview image.

Control Icon Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TABLE 7-2: PREVIEW AREA CONTROLS

F I L T E R M E N UConvolution


7

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Convolution

The Convolution filter allows you to design a custom filter by specifying its kernel.

Fi l ter s izeSpecify the filter size by in x, y and z direction. Deactivate the icon to change the values independently.

Fi l ter kernelSpecify the weights of your filter kernel for each axis by entering them in the according value fields. Click the Reset button to restore the default val-ues.

Fi l ter data rangeIn order to keep the convolution results in the source data range, they are divided by a certain value, and another value is added to them afterwards. These values are by default (Automatic) given by VG Studio MAX , but you can enter them manually by choosing Custom (click Guess to see the suggestion of VG Studio MAX ) or omit the process entirely by choosing None.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gauss

The Gauss filter is designed to blur the image. In contrast to the Adaptive Gauss filter it might destroy relevant structures like edges in the progress.

Fi l ter s izeSpecify the filter size by in x, y and z direction. Deactivate the icon to change the values independently

By increasing the filter size, you effectively increase the amount of smoothing.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Deviation

The Deviation filter can be used to accentuate areas of high contrast and edges in the data set.


. . .

. .F I L T E R M E N UMedian


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Median

The Median filter is useful to reduce the noise within the voxel data set while preserving its edges. Each voxel’s grayvalue is replaced by the median of the grayvalues of voxels around it. Pixels that differ too much from the median are discarded and do not count at all towards the result.


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Erosion

The Erosion filter performs a morphological operation which contracts the selected data set.


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Di lation

The Dilation filter performs a morphological operation which expands the selected data set.


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Apply opacity mapping

The Apply opacity mapping filter is designed apply the mapping defined in the Opacity manipulation area of the Volume Rendering tool (see Opacity manipulation area on page 14-2) to the source gray values. You can use this filter to, e.g., invert the data set.

F I L T E R M E N UApply opacity mapping


7


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .INSTRUMENTS MENU 8

ou can perform various measurements like distances, gray values, angles and more on your data with the utilities available in the Instruments menu of VG S tud io MAX . Each new instrument will be

accompanied by an annotation containing the respective measured value(s) and represented by an entry in the Scene Tree (see chapter Scene Tree tool).

Warning You have to calibrate an object before performing measurements (see Calibrate in chapter Object menu on page 5-2.

Measurement instruments are visible in the 2D views and—unless hidden by opaque material—in the 3D view. See Table 8-1: Instruments menu options for an overview.

Option Icon Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Indicator Left-click to create a new indicator to measure

gray value and position of a single voxelDistance instru-ment

Left-click and draw with the mouse to measure a distance

Angle instru-ment

Left-click to create a new angle instrument

Polyline instru-ment

Left-click to create a new polyline instrument

Min/max distance instrument

Left-click and draw with the mouse to define a frame in which the minimum or maximum dis-tance shall be detected

Caliper instru-ment

Left-click and draw with the mouse to measure a distance rectangular to a surface

Activate naviga-tion cursor

Left-click while pressing the <Ctrl>-key to position the navigation cursor, left-click and drag to move it

Snap modes Choose a mode from the submenu to deter-mine the snapping behavior when setting points or handles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

TABLE 8-1: INSTRUMENTS MENU OPTIONS

Y

I N S T R U M E N T S M E N UGeneral


8

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . General

Handl ing of inst rumentsTo create a new instrument, choose one of the options in the Instruments menu and click with the mouse into a slice window. The polyline instru-ment, the indicator and the navigation cursor can also be positioned in the 3D window.

To modify an instrument, select it in a slice window, 3D window (polyline instrument, indicator and navigation cursor only) or Scene Tree (see chapter Scene Tree tool) and resize it with the left mouse button: Click one of its handles to drag it, click onto the instrument’s base line to move the whole instrument.

Warning In the 3D window, instruments are manipulated differently than in the 2D windows: In the 3D window, double-click instruments with the left mouse button to select them, and hold <Ctrl> while left-clicking to create new points (polyline instrument) or set it to another point (indicator and navigation cursor).In the 2D windows, a single left-click is sufficient for both actions.

Selecting an instrument in 2D or 3D will change the slice display such that all 2D views display the slices in which the instrument is located.

Display of instrumentsAn instrument is always displayed in the 2D views, whether or not the cur-rent slice is the slice the instrument is located in. The way the instrument is displayed is subject to its position relative to the current slice. You can modify the display properties in the preferences (see Preferences in chapter Edit menu on page 4-3). The default settings are as follows.

• Display of punctiform measurement instrumentsIndicator and navigation cursor are displayed in

• red if located in the current slice,

• green if located in a higher slice,

• white if located in a lower slice.

• Display of linear measurement instruments• If a measurement line is located in the current slice, it will be displayed

as a solid green line with red handles. The handles will only be displayed in the slice in which they are located.

. . .

. .I N S T R U M E N T S M E N UIndicator


• If a measurement line is located in a lower slice, it will be displayed as a solid green line without handles.

• If a measurement line is located in a higher slice, it will be displayed as a dashed green line without handles.

This also applies for parts of the line. If a line runs diagonally through the object, the upper part of it will be displayed dashed and the lower part solid.

Tips and tricks For the linear measurement instruments, you can view the gray value profile along the measurement line (see chapter Window menu) or perform a dimensioning (see chapter Measurements menu).

Annotat ionsSpecify the positioning of the instrument’s annotation in the view. Move your mouse over the annotation and click on the small button appearing above the upper right corner of the annotation to switch between the fol-lowing modes:

• A (Automatic positioning mode)Places the annotation automatically, thereby avoiding intersections between the annotation line and the instrument line. This option is only available for Distance and Caliper instruments.

• F (Fixed positioning mode)Places the annotation at a fixed position in the respective 2D window.

• R (Relative positioning mode)Places the annotation at a position relative to the instrument.

For advanced measurement features, coordinate measuring and coordinate system options see chapter Measurements menu.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Indicator

The indicator is a 3D cross-hair that points to a single voxel. Its annotation contains the gray value of the voxel and its x/y/z coordinates in units of the selected coordinate system. If the coordinate system is the grid of the object, the position will be given in voxels.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Distance instrument

Use this tool to measure a distance between two points. If you want to mea-sure e.g. the material thickness, activate the snap option as explained above

I N S T R U M E N T S M E N UAngle instrument


8

(see Annotations on page 8-3) so that the handles of the distance instru-ment are automatically positioned on the material boundary.

The handles of the distance instrument can be dragged using the left mouse button. Hold down <Shift+Ctrl> while doing so to leave the direction of the distance instrument unchanged (other than changes of 45°).

If you hold <Shift> while dragging a handle, its movement is restricted to the horizontal or vertical direction in the respective 2D window.

The whole distance instrument can be moved by dragging the line between the handles (using the left mouse button).

To measure another distance with the same distance instrument, simply draw at a new position. Select another object or deselect the instrument in the Scene Tree to stop modifying this distance instrument.

To measure another distance with an additional distance instrument, choose this menu entry again.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Angle instrument

Use this tool to measure the angle between two edges. The angle instrument consists of two lines, each with two handles.

You can drag the handles with the left mouse button. By doing so you define the angle between the two lines which is displayed within the anno-tation of to the angle instrument.

If you hold <Shift+Ctrl> while dragging a handle, the direction of the cor-responding line is locked and will only change in steps of 45°.


The whole angle instrument can be moved by dragging one of the green lines between the handles (using the left mouse button).

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Polyl ine instrument

Use this tool to measure the outline of an arbitrary shape by fitting a polyline to that shape. Click the left mouse button to create control points for the polyline instrument. The new points are added to the start or the end of the polyline, depending on whether the cursor is nearer to the current start or end point, respectively. The start and end point are distinguished from the other points by their different display. Each successive line segment adds to the total length. Insert a point between two existing points using the

. . .

. .I N S T R U M E N T S M E N UMin/max distance instrument


middle mouse button. Remove a point by clicking it with the middle mouse button.

Manipulate the polyline instrument in the 3D view by holding down <Ctrl> during the respective mouse clicks. To move an existing point of a selected polyline instrument no modifier key is needed. Double click the polyline instru-ment with the left mouse button to select it.

Choose the polyline type from the floating toolbar:

• Linear connects the points with straight lines.

• CatmullRom connects the points by a Catmull-Rom-Spline. Modify the Slope factor to increase or decrease the curvature of the. A Slope factor of 0.0 leads to the same result as a Linear polyline.

The annotation shows the distance measured along the polyline.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Min/max distance instrument

Measure the minimum distance or the maximum distance inside a capture frame. Activating this option will open a toolbar. Specify the following parameters and then draw a frame with the mouse to define the capture area.

• Minimum / MaximumThe tool can identify either the minimum distance or maximum distance inside the capture frame.

• Material / Background / BothIf Material is selected, the minimum/maximum material thickness is detected. Select Background to detect the minimum/maximum gap. If you need to know where the minimum/maximum distance between two mate-rial boundaries inside the capture range is located, be it thickness of mate-rial or gap between material, choose the option Both.

• deg numberMeasuring the distance between two material boundaries makes sense if the two boundaries are opposed to each other. In theory, the perfect mea-surement situation would be two parallel surfaces. As a counterexample, measuring the minimum distance in a circle would result in measuring the distance of two neighboring voxels, which does not lead to a meaningful result. To measure meaningful distances, VG Studio MAX searches the oppo-site surface by sending a measurement line orthogonal to the current sur-face. The surface area of the opposite surface taken into account for the end point of the measurement line is defined by a search cone. By default, the search cone has an aperture angle of 40°. A smaller angle will measure only near parallel surfaces.

I N S T R U M E N T S M E N UCaliper instrument


8

If a minimum/maximum distance according to the specifications is detected, a measurement line is displayed. If no measurement line is dis-played, modify the capture frame or the aperture angle of the search cone.

Move the capture frame by dragging one of its borders with the left mouse button, resize it by dragging one of its corners.The measurement line will be updated to show the minimum/maximum distance within the new cap-ture frame.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Caliper instrument

Like the distance instrument, the caliper instrument is used to measure dis-tances. The caliper can be regarded as a distance instrument enhanced by a additional line at each end. The additional lines are in a fixed right angle to the distance measurement line. Use the additional line to position one end of the distance measurement line rectangular to a surface. Then position the other end of the distance measurement line, e.g. onto the opposite surface, to measure the distance.

If you hold <Shift+Ctrl> while dragging a handle, the direction of the cor-responding line is locked and will only change in steps of 45°.


If you change the coordinate system, the additional lines of the caliper will not be displayed. They become visible again if you switch back to the coor-dinate system in which they have been created.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Activate navigation cursor

The navigation cursor allows easy navigation in the scene: Hold <Ctrl> and left-click a point in any (2D or 3D) window to position the navigation cursor there. The position specified this way will be shown in the other 3 win-dows; 2D windows will update their slice index to do so. Use the left mouse button to drag the navigation cursor around. Hold <Ctrl> and left-click somewhere to set the cursor to a new position.

Tips and tricks If you are interested in a specific point located on the surface of the object, position the navigation cursor on this point by <Ctrl>-clicking it in 3D. All 2D windows will display the slices for this point so that you can investigate it further.

. . .

. .I N S T R U M E N T S M E N USnap


If another instrument is selected, the navigation cursor can be brought back to focus in the 3D window by <Ctrl>-clicking somewhere within it.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Snap

Activate one of the snap options from the pull down menu to automatically snap the points/handles you set for the measurement instruments. The snap works both for volume and geometry objects in the 2D view. If you cali-brate a volume object, the calibrated isosurface can be used for snapping (see Calibrate in chapter Object menu on page 5-2 on how to calibrate an object).Activate this option to display a square capture frame. The point snaps inside this capture frame. Define the snapping area inside the preferences (see Preferences in chapter Edit menu on page 4-3).Disable this option to set the points/handles exactly where you click. Enable an arbitrary snapping mode for geometry objects to snap onto their surface.

Use one of the following snap options from the pull down menu for the instruments in the 2D view:

Snap modes > MinSnaps to the lowest gray value in the snap area.

Snap modes > MaxSnaps to the highest gray value in the snap area.

Snap modes > GradientSnaps to the position with the largest gray value difference in the snap

area.

Snap modes > NearestSnaps to the nearest isosurface created by the calibration in the snap

area. If there is no calibration present, this modes works like the snap mode Local.

Snap modes > LocalPerforms a temporary, local calibration within the snap range and

snaps to the resulting temporary isosurface.

I N S T R U M E N T S M E N USnap


8


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ANALYSIS MENU 9

hrough the Analysis menu of VG S tud io MAX you can access tools providing advanced analysis features. These tools might require additional licensing. With a base license, you can view the results

of, but not perform, an analysis.

See Table 9-1: Analysis Menufor and overview of analysis icons.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nominal/Actual comparison

Calculates and visualizes the variations between the calibrated surface of a voxel object and the surface of a polygon model.

See chapter Nominal/actual comparison module for details.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wall thickness

Calculates and visualizes the material thickness of a voxel object.

See chapter Wall thickness module for details.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Defect detection

Calculates and visualizes the material defects of a voxel object.

See chapter Defect detection module for details.

Option Icon Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . New defect detection

Analyze the selected object for defects.

New nominal/ actual compari-son

Calculate a nominal/actual comparison.

New wall thick-ness

Analyze the wall thickness of the selected object.

New analysis annotation

Create annotations for the selected analysis.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TABLE 9-1: ANALYSIS MENU

T

A N A L Y S I S M E N UNew Annotation


9

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . New Annotation

Creates an annotation attached to the selected analysis.An annotation can be used to show analysis results and data values at a specific location in the dataset.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Volume analyzer

Calculates various voxel properties for a selected volume or region of inter-est.

Parts of the tool require a license enabling the Defect detection module.

See chapter Volume Analyzer tool for details.


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ANIMATION MENU 10

se the Animation menu to enter or leave VG Studio MAX ’s special keyframer mode, and to access basic commands while keyframer mode is active. Additional controls for working in keyframer mode

can be found in the corresponding tool, see chapter Animation Tool.

See Table 10-1: Animation menu for an overview.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Keyframer mode

Enter or leave keyframer mode. When entering keyframer mode for the first time, VG S tud io MAX creates a default (circular) camera trajectory. If a cam-era trajectory is already present, it remains untouched.

After entering keyframer mode, the very first keyframe of the current anima-tion will be active.

Warning When in keyframer mode, changes made to the scene are only valid for the currently selected keyframe. If changes are made between keyframes, a new keyframe is inserted at the respective position. See also chapter Animation Menu.

Control Icon Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Keyframer mode

Enter or leave keyframer mode.

Render anima-tion

Write current animation to disk.

Load camera trajectory

Load a trajectory definition from disk.

Save camera trajectory

Save current camera trajectory to disk.

Copy current state

Copy current state of all animated scene set-tings.

Paste state Paste entire copied animation state.Paste substate Paste subset of copied animation state.Default curves Set the camera trajectory to a default preset.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

TABLE 10-1: ANIMATION MENU

U

A N I M A T I O N M E N URender Animation


1 0

Leaving the keyframer mode resets the scene into the unanimated state, i.e. the state it had been in before you entered the keyframer mode. Note that this does not include objects you have completely removed from the scene in the keyframer mode. Those objects remain deleted. Other settings that are not restored include the selected 3D rendering method, actual changes to volume data or ROIs, coordinate measurement objects etc.).

If objects in the scene already contain animated information when you enter keyframer mode, you are asked whether to Take over current scene set-tings? Only answer Yes if you whish to discard all animated settings previ-ously made for the scene objects and reset them to the unanimated state. This does not affect the camera trajectory settings.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Render Animation

Only available when keyframer mode is active. Use this option to save the current animation to disk as a movie.

The size, duration and number of frames of the movie depend on the set-tings specified in the Animation Tool.

At first, a file dialog opens; choose the file name and location to save to. The movie can be saved as a series of BMP or JPEG files or (on MS Win-dows systems) to a single AVI file with a certain encoding format.

Next, VG Studio MAX queries whether to save the entire movie from the Beginning, or to start with the Current position, i.e. the current frame in the Animation Tool. You can use this functionality to resume rendering at a cer-tain point of time if a previous rendering pass had been aborted for some reason.

When saving to individual files, each frame is be saved to an image file named <your_specified_name><frame_number>.<bmp_or_jpg>. The frame numbers will have enough digits to cover all frames; lower frame numbers are padded with zeroes, resulting in file names like myframe0000.bmp, myframe0001.bmp etc. Note that when rendering from the Current position (see above), the frame numbers will not start with zero, but with the correct numbering of the current position relative to the begin-ning of the movie.

When saving to JPEG files, you are asked about the desired image quality (in a range of 5-100).

When saving to a single AVI file, you are asked about the codec to be used for exporting the movie. The list of available codecs depend on your sys-tem installation; their parameters are not within the scope of VG Stud io MAX .

. . .

. .A N I M A T I O N M E N ULoad Camera Trajectory


Tips and tricks Note: Most codecs are 32-bit-based and thus not available for encoding in a 64 bit version of VG S tud io MAX . As a workaround until 64 bit codecs are available, you can save the movie as BMP or JPEG series and encode them into a movie with the desired codec using a third-party 32 bit software.

After providing all needed information, VG Studio MAX starts rendering the movie. Note that this can take a considerable amount of time. When saving to individual files, you can abort the process at any time, and all files com-pleted so far remains on the disk. When saving to a single AVI file, no result at all will be available if you abort the rendering.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Load Camera Trajectory

Only available when in keyframer mode. Use this command to load a previ-ously saved trajectory file describing camera movement, velocity settings, movie length and frame rate. You can load trajectory files saved from pre-vious versions of VG S tud io MAX , or files saved by the current version’s Save camera trajectory command.

Warning All existing animation information will be lost when loading a trajectory!

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Save Camera Trajectory

Only available when in keyframer mode. Use this command to save the cur-rent camera trajectory, velocity settings, movie length and frame rate to disk. See Load camera trajectory.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Copy current state

Only available when in keyframer mode. Copies the current state of all ani-mated scene settings (object transformations, colors, opacities, lighting set-tings, etc., but not the camera’s state) to an internal clipboard. The current state depends on the current frame set in the Animation Tool. After copy-ing, switch to another (key-)frame and use the Paste state or Paste substate commands after to apply the copied state to the new frame.

You can copy the current state at any given frame, no matter if it is a key-frame or a frame in between.

A N I M A T I O N M E N UPaste state


1 0

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Paste state

Only available when in keyframer mode and a Copy current state command has been issued before. Applies all copied state information to the corre-sponding objects for the current frame. If the current frame is not a key-frame, a new keyframe is inserted automatically.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Paste substate

Only available when in keyframer mode and a Copy current state command has been issued before. Applies copied state information to the correspond-ing objects for the current frame. If the current frame is not a keyframe, a new keyframe is inserted automatically. In contrast to Paste state, you may restrict pasting to certain categories, leaving other types of states unchanged:

• LightingPastes state of Light source objects only. This includes their visibility, their orientation, colors and intensities.

• ClippingPastes state of Clipping box, Aligned clipping box, and Clipping plane objects only. This includes their visibility and their clipping geometry settings.

• MaterialPastes settings related to the material settings of volume or polygon objects. This includes ambient/diffuse/specular colors and intensities as well as opacity/transparency settings.

• RenderobjectPastes settings related directly to volume or polygon objects. This includes their visibility and orientation in the scene. It also includes the visibility of Regions of Interest.

• BackgroundPastes state of the 3D view’s background color(s) only.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Default curves

Create or replace a camera trajectory based on one of the following presets. After triggering a default curve, VG Stud io MAX will be in keyframer mode.

Warning All existing animation information will be lost when choosing a default curve!

. . .

. .A N I M A T I O N M E N UDefault curves


Defaul t curves: Ci rc leUse the Circle commands to create a circular flight around all objects in the current scene. The resulting animation has five keyframes.

For the xy-/xz-/yz-circle options, the camera trajectory is a circle parallel to the respective plane in the currently selected coordinate system. The cir-cle’s radius is chosen relative to the size of the objects in the scene. The camera looks at the center of the scene at all times.

The circle, as seen option produces a camera trajectory circle determined by what is currently visible in the 3D view: the camera rotates around the ver-tical view axis, looking at the position currently in focus (the depth being determined by the center of all the objects in the scene).

Defaul t curves: Spira lUse the Spiral commands to create a circular, up-spiraling flight around all objects in the current scene. The resulting animation has nine keyframes.

The camera trajectory circle is oriented along the specified axes in the cur-rently selected coordinate system. The circle’s radius and spiral height are chosen relative to the size of the objects in the scene. The camera looks at the center of the scene at all times.

Defaul t curves: Cl ipUse the Clip commands to create a “pseudo-flight” animation which fixes the view on an object during the animation,

The Clip commands create an animation of the selected, stationary object gradually clipped in a certain direction and observed by a fixed camera. (Technically, this is achieved by rotating the object and the camera simulta-neously. Thus, other visible, stationary objects appear to rotate with respect to the selected object.) The resulting animation has five keyframes.

The Clip x/y/z (backwards) options create a clipping animation along the respective axis of the currently selected coordinate system. They use the camera’s current view direction (as seen in the 3D view), only the position of the camera is centered in front of the scene. The corresponding back-wards option reverses the clipping direction.

The Aligned clip x/y/z (backwards) options create a clipping animation along the respective axis of the currently selected coordinate system. They change the camera’s view direction to match the clipping, and the position of the camera is centered in front of the scene. The corresponding back-wards option reverses both the clipping direction and the view direction (i.e. the clipping always starts in front of the camera and clips away increasing portions of the object from front to back).

A N I M A T I O N M E N UDefault curves


1 0

The Frontal clip option uses the camera’s current view direction (as seen in the 3D view), only the position of the camera is centered in front of the scene. The created clipping is along the camera view direction, thus clip-ping away increasing portions of the currently visible view from front to back.


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .TOOLS MENU 11

ctivate various tools by checking their entry in the Tools menu of VG Studio MAX .

Warning Some tools might require additional licensing before you can activate them. Ask V o l u m e G r a p h i c s for details if you cannot activate a tool.

If a menu entry is disabled, this tool is not part of your license.

See Table 11-1: Tools menu options for an overview.

Option Icon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Volume Ren-dering

define opacity, intensity and color mappings for volume objects

Surface Extrac-tion

create a surface model from a volume object

Macro Manager record and play macrosScene Tree access and control elements (and their subele-

ments) in the scene, this includes camera and light sources, volume objects and surface mod-els, measurement features, clipping planes, and others

Clipping control the clipping planePolygon Ren-dering

specify the rendering of surface models

Transform access and control the transformation proper-ties of volume objects and surface models, these include the position, rotation, resolution and center of an object

Light access and control the properties of light sources in the scene, these include the type (e.g., spot light source), color, shadow, and others

Camera access and control the properties of the cam-era, these include its position and focal point, the rendering mode and others

Animation access and control the properties of the anima-tion tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

TABLE 11-1: TOOLS MENU OPTIONS

A

TO O L S M E N U


11

Check a tool to activate it. An activated tool will be displayed either in one of the Tool docks or as a floating tool. It might be minimized to its title bar or maximized. Position and size of the tool depends on its status before it was deactivated.

Uncheck a tool to deactivate it. You can reactivate the tool at any time.

Deactivating a tool via the Tools menu is equivalent to closing the tool via the corresponding icon in its title bar.

For details on the tools, refer to the respective chapters.


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .WINDOW MENU 12

hoose and/or modify the overall layout of views in VG Studio MAX . This includes the 3D and 2D views to be displayed, their size and arrangement as well as display of gray value profile windows, rulers

and text overlays.

See Table 12-1: Window menu options on page 12-1 for an overview.

Option Icon Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Slices Left Applies a standard two column layout with

three slice views and a large 3D view. The slice views are arranged top to bottom in the left column.

Slices Right Applies a standard two column layout with three slice views and a large 3D view. The slice views are arranged top to bottom in the right column.

Slices Below Applies a standard two row layout with three slice views and a large 3D view. The slice views are arranged left to right below the 3D view.

Quad Applies a standard two by two layout with three slice views and a 3D view, where each view of the quad is of the same size.

Quad Profile Applies the Quad layout and adds the gray value profile window below the quad.

Layout editor... Launches the Layout editor to customize lay-outs.

Background Select the Background color for the selected 2D window.

Coordinate sys-tem

Select a reference coordinate system for the respective 2D window.

Zoom Controls the zoom setting of the selected 2D view.

Ruler Activate to display rulers in the slice views.Display Mode Changes the Display Mode (data representa-

tion) of the 2D views.Annotations Rearranges and configures annotations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

TABLE 12-1: WINDOW MENU OPTIONS

C

W I N D O W M E N USlices Left/Right/Below


1 2

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sl ices Left /Right/Below

Select one of the window layouts with a larger 3D view and apply it to your current workspace.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Quad / Quad Profi le

Select this layout to apply a standard two by two layout with three slice views and a 3D view with or without a gray value profile window.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Layout editor. . .

See chapter Layout Editor for details about the Layout editor

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Background

Specify the background color of the 2D windows here.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Coordinate System

Here you can specify a reference coordinate system for the selected 2D window. Other 2D windows will not be affected by this choice. Select Fol-low global coordinate system to reference the coordinate system active in the Coordinate system iconbar.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Zoom

You can link the zoom factor between the 2D views via the Layout Editor, see Linked features in chapter Layout Editor on page 24-3 on how to link the zoom factor.

Level/Window mode

Toggles the 2D view Level/Window (Con-trast/brightness) mode.

Slice step width Defines step width to be used for navigation in 2D view (if not in “Grid” coordinate system).

Text overlay Configures text overlays for slice views and/or 3D view


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TABLE 12-1: WINDOW MENU OPTIONS

. . .

. .W I N D O W M E N URuler


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ruler

Select this option to toggle the ruler at the borders of each 2D window.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Display mode

The Display mode determines the way by which the slice images in the 2D views are rendered. The Display mode setting can be linked (shared) between the 2D views or set individually via the Layout editor (see chapter Layout Editor). If the Display mode is not linked between the 2D views, switching the modes only affects the currently selected 2D window.

Origina lDisplays the slice images using their original color, brightness and contrast.

ColorDisplays the slice images using their original brightness and contrast, but applies the color setting from the Volume Rendering tool. Also displays the contour of the calibrated surface.

Color and Opaci tyDisplays the slice images using the brightness, contrast and color settings of the Volume Rendering tool. Also displays the contour of the calibrated sur-face.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Annotations

Select Arrange, Minimize, Maximize to modify the display of the currently vis-ible annotations.

Refer to New Annotation in chapter Analysis menu on page 9-2 for instruc-tions how to create an annotation.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Level/Window mode

Launches the Level/Window (contrast/brightness) tool. This can be used to change the displayed Level/Window of the volumetric data independent of the Volume Render settings. The chosen settings are taken into account in all the Display Mode settings.

W I N D O W M E N USlice step width


1 2

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sl ice step width

Here, you can define the step width to be used when scrolling through slices in the 2D views. It is only active when one is not in a “Grid of ...” coordinate system.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Text overlay

Launches the Text Overlay Editor for the 2D and 3D windows. Via this tool additional information such as slice position and company logos can con-figured and rendered on top of the 2D and 3D views. For further details see chapter Text Overlay Editor.


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HELP MENU 13

he Help menu of VG Stud io MAX 2 .0 provides information about the software, enables you to create registration forms and provides access to the manual.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . About

Displays product information including the version (release) and build number, the expiry date and license information.

Always provide version and build number when requesting support or reporting a bug.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Product registration

Lets you create and save a product registration form including a system specific hardware encryption key needed for licensing purposes. To obtain either a temporary evaluation license or your final product license fill out the missing information and e-mail the form as an attachment to V o l u m e G r a p h i c s : [email protected]

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Show manual

Displays this reference manual.

Option Icon Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . About Display product informationProduct regis-tration

Create a registration form

Show manual Displays the reference manual. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TABLE 13-1: HELP MENU OPTIONS

T

H E L P M E N UShow manual


1 3


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .VOLUME RENDERING TOOL 14

olume objects can be visualized with various rendering techniques by VG Stud io MAX 2 .0 . The Volume Rendering tool allows to manipulate the look of volume objects or parts of them in various ways: You

can choose a color for each object, apply user-defined transfer functions to its opacity, set its overall transparency, and pick a rendering algorithm.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Preset selection

If you choose one of the default or user defined settings most changes in the tool are overwritten and lost. The red flag next to a preset name indi-cates that changes were made to it.

To save your own presets choose Save preset from the right pull down menu.

To save and load the settings into or from a file choose Export preset or Import preset.

When saving, you can choose if you want to save an Absolute Preset, i.e. a preset that maps properties to absolute grayvalues. If the checkbox is not activated, properties are saved relative to the histogram length.

You can choose between the following predefined presets:

• Ramp sets a ramp from left bottom to right top in the Opacity manipulation area, sets the colors to white and causes the object to be rendered as a volume.The result is a gray shaded volume object. Low gray values have high transparency and are shown with low intensity. High gray values have high opacity and are shown with high intensity.

• Inverse Ramp sets a ramp from left top to right bottom in the Opacity manipulation area, sets the colors to white and causes the object to be rendered as a volume.The result is a gray shaded volume object. Low gray values have high opacity and are shown with high intensity. High gray values have high transparency and are shown with low intensity.

• Components sets the opacity to maximum for all gray values, sets a color gradient for Ambient and causes the object to be rendered as a volume.The result is a completely colored object. Every gray value has another

V

VO L U M E R E N D E R I N G T O O LOpacity manipulation area


1 4

color. This is a good setting to visually detect the components of the object. Use the aligned clipping box to look into the object.

• Isosurface Transparent sets the colors to white and causes the object’s surface(s) to be rendered transparently. The threshold of the iso surface is shown as a red vertical line in the Opacity manipulation area. Change it with the mouse interactively.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Opacity manipulation area

In this area you see a histogram of the selected object and can specify the opacity of its voxels depending on their gray value using the opacity transfer function. The opacity transfer function is represented by the gray line plotted over the histogram. It can be manipulated as described in the following.

Manipulat ion of the opaci ty t ransfer funct ionSet handles by clicking with the middle mouse to define supporting points of the transfer function. The transfer function is linearly interpolated between the supporting points.You can move handles or whole sections of the opacity transfer function by dragging them with the left mouse button.Delete handles by middle-clicking them or by right-clicking them and choosing Delete handle from the context menu.Move the mouse over the handle to see its gray value followed by its assigned opacity value.Choose Reset opacity curve > from the context menu and the respective sub menu entry to set the transfer function to Default (Ramp), Full transparent or Full opaque.Choose Copy opacity curve from the context menu and Paste opacity curve to copy the curve into the area of another object.

Warning The opacity transfer function has no effect on the 3D window when the isosurface renderer is chosen. You can however still see the effects in the 2D window when you set them to Color and Opcacity mode.

Gray va lue h istogram and zoomClick into the background of the histogram with the left mouse to show its zoom level and gray value range. Move the mouse now up or down to change the zoom.Use the icon or - icon to reduce or enlarge the section of the gray values.Choose Histogram > Disable histogram to disable the histogram in the back-ground.

. . .

. .VO L U M E R E N D E R I N G T O O LAppearance


Tips and tricks Dock the tool window out from the tool bar and resize the window horizontally as large as possible to see the histogram in more detail if you have an object with thousands of gray values.

In tervalsUse the intervals to disable or enable a gray value range. If an interval is disabled the opacity is set to zero for its gray value range.Per default you work always in the Interval 1. Move the mouse to the right or left border of the area, hold down the left mouse and move into the mid-dle of the area to create an additional interval. Move the blue boundary line of the interval to scale both the opacity and color transfer function. Click with the left mouse onto the name of the interval to change it.

The context menu allows various options:Choose New interval > At left side to divide up the existing interval into two intervals on the actual mouse position with the new interval on the left side.Choose Delete interval > Expand left neighbor to delete the interval on the actual mouse position and merge the freed region with left interval.Choose Disable or Enable interval to disable or enable the interval on the actual mouse position.Choose Extract volume from gray value range to create a new volume object from the gray value range of the interval on the actual mouse position.Choose Create ROI from gray value interval to create a new ROI from the gray value range of the interval on the actual mouse position.

IsosurfaceDefine the surface of the selected object by moving the red vertical line with the mouse. This sets the gray value at which the isosurface renderer dis-plays the surface of the object.

Tips and tricks If the object was calibrated you have to click the small icon on the right to unlock the vertical line if you want to set the surface by hand.

ROI render set t ingsClick the icon to enable or disable the Volume Render Settings for the selected ROI.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appearance

Define the color transfer functions, overall transparency and some isosur-face specifics here.

VO L U M E R E N D E R I N G T O O LAppearance


1 4

The color and intensity defines how much of the light is reflected from the object’s volume or surface.

AmbientSpecify the properties of the Ambient component of light reflected from the selected object here. See Color and Intensity in chapter Light tool on page 20-3 for details on the different light components.

Set handles by clicking with the middle mouse to define supporting points of the transfer function. This defines a mapping between the gray value of the object and the color. The transfer function is linearly interpolated between the supporting points.Move the handles by clicking with the left mouse.Use the right mouse on a handle and delete it by choosing Delete handle from the context menu.Click the handle with the left mouse to see its gray value.

Choose Set handle color > to set the color for a handle. Choose Set color between handles > to set the color between handles. Choose Set interval color > to set the color for the whole interval.

Warning Set interval color > removes all handles inside the interval.

Copy the interval color by choosing Copy interval color and Paste interval color from the context menu.

Use the spinbox to set the Intensity of the color.

Dif fuseSpecify the properties of the Diffuse component of light reflected from the selected object here. See Color and Intensity in chapter Light tool on page 20-3 for details on the different light components.

Set the color transfer function in the same way as done for Ambient above.

Use shared color to use exactly the same transfer function for the diffuse component as for the ambient component. Change the intensity indepen-dent from that. The old transfer function is restored if the option is deacti-vated.

SpecularSpecify the properties of the Specular component of light reflected from the selected object here. See Color and Intensity in chapter Light tool on page 20-3 for details on the different light components.

Double click the quadratic box to choose the color for the Specular compo-nent. Use the spinbox to set the Intensity of the color.

. . .

. .VO L U M E R E N D E R I N G T O O LRendering settings


The Shininess controls the size and brightness of the highlight of the specu-lar component.

TransparencyUse the spinbox to set the overall Transparency of the selected object. This changes the intensity of the opacity in the Opacity manipulation area. The opacity is the inverse of the transparency. It is the equivalent of the Intensity of the color transfer functions Ambient and Specular.

Enable Remove hidden surfaces to disable the rendering of surfaces inside the object. This has an effect only if the surfaces are transparent.

SwapChoose Swap inner/outer areas to set inner areas to outer areas and vice versa. This is for the Isosurface renderer only. The figure below illustrates a common use of this switch.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rendering sett ings

For each object in the scene, you can specify which rendering algorithm to use to display it in the 3D window (and any screenshots or movies derived from it).

Isosurface rendererThis algorithm displays the surface of the selected object as defined by the iso-level (red line in the Opacity manipulation area). It is recommended for the analysis and visualization of industrial CT data sets: This algorithm pro-duces high quality photorealistic images at interactive speeds almost inde-pendently of the size of the data set. The most common use of the isosurface renderer is to render the object at the iso-level defined by the calibration, i.e. showing the actual calibrated surface of the object.

VO L U M E R E N D E R I N G T O O LRendering settings


1 4

Volume renderer (Phong)This algorithm is a volume rendering algorithm which emphasizes the local gradients within the voxel data. The full support of lighting sources and clipping objects makes it most suitable for animations.

Volume renderer (Scat ter HQ)This algorithm is a volume rendering algorithm. It is the “all-rounder” amongst the visualization algorithms of VG Stud io MAX . It is well suited for the visualization of faint gray value differences within the voxel data as well as to visualize surface structure details.

Hardware renderer (Scat ter HQ)In contrast to all other renderers, which all use the CPU (s) for rendering, the Hardware renderer uses the graphics card for direct-volume-rendering. This delivers the best rendering performance on most systems but uses the least features of the light and clipping objects. However, for data sets larger than the graphics card memory the Hardware renderer can be used as pre-view only, because the volume has to be downsampled and looses detail.

X-RayThe X-ray algorithm casts one ray per display pixel into the dataset. The higher the integrated opacity of voxels along a ray, the darker the corre-sponding pixel.

Sum along RayThe Sum along Ray algorithm casts one ray per display pixel into the dataset. The higher the integrated opacity of voxels along a ray, the brighter the cor-responding pixel.

Maximum Project ionThe Maximum intensity projection algorithm casts one ray per display pixel into the dataset. The maximum intensity of the voxels along a ray determines the gray value of the corresponding pixel.

Scat ter (v1.2)This algorithm is a volume rendering algorithm which is suited best for the visualization of transparent structures only, e.g. in computational fluid dynamics.

Scat ter HQ (v1.2)This is the standard volume rendering algorithm from VG S tud io MAX 1.2. See “Volume renderer (Scatter HQ)” for more details.

. . .

. .VO L U M E R E N D E R I N G T O O LLimitations of specific renderers


Scat ter Gradient (v1 .2)This algorithm is a volume rendering algorithm which emphasizes the local gradients within the voxel data. Therefore it is suited best to visualize objects with a clearly defined surface structure.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R E M A R K S O N R E N D E R E R S

Some renderers are adopted from VG Studio MAX 1.2: VGStudio MAX 1.2 (Scat-ter), VGStudio MAX 1.2 (Scatter HQ), VGStudio MAX 1.2 (Scatter HQ Gradient), VGStudio MAX 1.2 (X-Ray), VGStudio MAX 1.2 (Sum along Ray) and VGStudio MAX 1.2 (Maximum Projection). You can use those to display data that was saved in VG Stud io MAX 1.2.

Tips and tricks Note that the VGStudio MAX 1.2 (X-Ray), VGStudio MAX 1.2 (Sum along Ray) and VGStudio MAX 1.2 (Maximum Projection) are not dedicated to old data sets only, but can be used with their full functionality in VG Stud io MAX 2 .0 .

The renderers Volume renderer (Scatter HQ) and Volume renderer (Phong) are similar to VGStudio MAX 1.2 (Scatter HQ) and VGStudio MAX 1.2 (Scatter HQ Gradient) respectively, but fully support the attributes of light and clipping objects of VG Stud io MAX 2 .0 and have higher precision by nearly the same performance.

Oversampl ingSet the oversampling to a factor larger than 1.0 to sample the object more precisely than one voxel distance. The higher the oversampling the slower the rendering but the better the image quality.

Normal ize gradientsSwitch on to normalize the gradients for lighting calculations. This is sup-ported by the Volume renderer (Scatter HQ), Volume renderer (Phong) and the Isosurface renderer.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Limitations of specif ic renderers

The renderers Volume renderer (Phong) and Iso surface renderer support all attributes of the light sources and clipping objects. To be compatible to the VG Stud io MAX 1.2.1 renderers the Volume renderer (Scatter HQ) does not sup-port the specular component and behaves very similar to the VGStudio MAX 1.2 (Scatter HQ).

The VGStudio MAX 1.2 (x) renderers have some limitations:

VO L U M E R E N D E R I N G T O O LLimitations of specific renderers


1 4

• Only two light sources on the camera are supported. The first one is always interpreted as directional light shining frontal onto the object. The second one always is a directional light, too, and shines angular from the right side. Shadow is supported on second light source only. The specular component is not supported.

• The inversion of the clipping region of clipping boxes and the opacity setting of all clipping objects is not supported.

The Hardware renderer has the following limitations:

• Only the colors and intensities of light sources are supported.

• Neither inverting the clipping region of clipping boxes nor opacity settings of any clipping object are supported.Due to restrictions of OpenGL, most systems support only up to six clipping planes. In this context, every side of a clipping box that actually clips the object counts as a separate clipping plane.

• Overlays used by the wall thickness and defect detection analysis to dye certain wall thicknesses or defects are not supported.


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .SURFACE EXTRACTION TOOL 15

he Surface Extraction tool is designed to generate polygonal surface models from volumetric data sets. The polygonal models may be exported as an STL file (or other supported file formats, see Export:

Polygon in chapter File menu on page 3-20) which can be used in further processing steps and applications, e.g. in the construction of physical repli-cas through the use of rapid prototyping machinery or nominal/actual com-parison (see chapter Nominal/actual comparison module).

You can also use the Surface Extraction tool on a polygonal surface. This can be useful if you want to produce a surface model with different sampling parameters.

The tool is organized into the tab pages General, Extraction and Simplification on which you inspect and modify the surface extraction parameters.

Click the Calculate button available on each page to execute the surface extraction process.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Status information

This section displays information about the current status of the Surface Extraction tool. A valid object can either be a voxel data set, a region of inter-est or a polygon object.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . General

General options for the surface extraction are available on this page.

Preset se lect ionHere you can load predefined or user-defined presets. These presets include all specifications made in the Surface Extraction tool. Furthermore, user-defined presets can be deleted, exported or imported via the respective but-tons from the pull-down menu on the right hand side of the icon.

VG Stud io MAX 2 .0 offers you the default presets Quick, Very fast (points only), Fast, Normal, Normal with Simplification, Precise, Precise with simplification, Super precise and Super precise with Simplification for the surface extraction. Select e.g. Very fast (points only) to generate a point cloud only without any meshing of simplification steps.

T

S U R F A C E E X T R A C T I O N T O O LExtraction


1 5

Surface def in i t ionThe surface of the voxel data set is specified through an iso-gray-value sur-face. Specify the iso-gray-value either by selecting the Use calibration option (see Standard calibration in chapter Object menu on page 5-2) or by select-ing the Gray value option which allows you to enter the gray value manu-ally.

Tips and tricks Use calibration will typically define the iso-gray-value surface more precisely than a manually defined iso-gray-value.

Extract ion parametersThe extracted surface is represented through a set of points (point cloud) which can be connected with each other to form a triangle mesh. Select the Create triangle mesh option to create a triangle mesh representation of the extracted surface. Disable the Create triangle mesh option to get only a point cloud representation of the extracted surface. Select Swap inner/outer areas to swap the inside with the outside.

A polygonal model extracted from an object which is touching the bound-ing box of the voxel data set can be extracted in two ways. The model can extracted in a way that the model will be closed at the borders of the voxel data set or the model can be left open since the surface at the border can be seen as an artificial surface. Select Create closed surface to close such bor-ders.

In the Mode pull-down menu, you can choose between the Default extraction algorithm and the Quick mesh algorithm, which will gives a very fast result, but disable any refinement steps.

Resul t dest inat ionSelect the Place in scene option to place the extracted surface in the current scene. Select the Export option to store the extracted surface on disk. If the Export option is selected pressing Calculate will show the Export polygon file dialog. Enter a file name and select a file format. For a description of the available file formats see Export: Polygon in chapter File menu on page 3-20.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Extraction

In the extraction process VG Stud io MAX 2 .0 determines the points which lie on the surface of the input data set.

. . .

. .S U R F A C E E X T R A C T I O N T O O LSimplification


Resampl ingClick the check box labeled Resampling to enable/disable the resampling process.

Select an entry from the Mode pull down to specify the sampling distance used in the extraction process. The finer the sampling distance the more points will be generated. Select Manual from the Mode pull down menu to specify a custom x, y or z sampling distance. Select a Mode from the pull down to apply a predefined sampling distance.

Point reduct ionDuring the process of determining which points are on the surface it is pos-sible to exclude points from the final point cloud. To reduce the number of initially generated points apply a Tolerance value larger than zero.The larger the Tolerance value the more points can be excluded. A Tolerance value of zero means no reduction at all. Select an entry from the Mode pull down to apply a predefined Tolerance value. Select Manual from the Mode list to specify a custom Tolerance value.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Simplif ication

The mesh simplification algorithm will combine groups of triangles that are aligned in one plane (within a user given tolerance) to larger triangles thus reducing the number of triangles.

S U R F A C E E X T R A C T I O N T O O LSimplification


1 5

This tab is only active if the Create triangle mesh option on the General tab is checked.

Simpl i f icat ionClick the check box labeled Simplification to enable/disable the simplifica-tion process.

Select a Mode from the pull down to apply predefined Simplification settings. Select the Manual Mode from the pull down to specify custom simplification settings.

Specify the Tolerance value to reduce the point cloud. This value denotes the maximum distance tolerable for the shifting of points when combining smaller triangles to a greater one. As a consequence, the overall measure-ment of the resulting model might vary slightly from the original object within the applied tolerance range.

Enable the Mesh optimization option which puts the simplification algorithm in a mode which is more time consuming but produces results without quality loss. Disable the option to put the simplification algorithm in a mode which is the most time-saving possibility and offers very good results if you want to export the resulting point cloud only.

You can specify a Triangle limit which tells the simplification algorithm to how many triangles to reduce the mesh to.

The Triangle limit will never cause the algorithm to apply a higher Tolerance to force reaching the specified number of triangles. The algorithm aims to reach the specified limit, but if there are no more triangles which can be simplified for the given Tolerance value it will stop the simplification pro-

. . .

. .S U R F A C E E X T R A C T I O N T O O LSimplification


cess. If the Triangle limit is reached first, the simplification will stop as well, so that the Tolerance will only be applied as long as necessary.

S U R F A C E E X T R A C T I O N T O O LSimplification


1 5


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .SCENE TREE TOOL 16

he scene in VG Stud io MAX consists of all elements currently loaded. This not only includes volume objects and polygon models, but also measurement features, light sources etc. The scene is hierarchically

structured: For example, a volume object is at top-level, all measurements and analysis results belonging to this object are ordered below it. This hier-archical structure is depicted in the Scene Tree. The Scene Tree tool allows you to access the elements of the scene.

Entries in the Scene Tree are preceded by an icon indicating the current locking state of this element, clicking this icon will change the state. The checkbox will toggle the visibility state. Additional access is provided by the context menu which you can open by right-clicking the entry (or entries) in question.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Entries in the Scene Tree

Click an entry in the Scene Tree to select it. Use the <Ctrl> key while click-ing to select multiple objects.

A selected object is highlighted in the Scene Tree. In the 3D window, its bounding box is displayed.

Any object-related operations will refer to the selected object. Selecting an object in the Scene Tree is equivalent to selecting it in the 3D window. Select an object in the 3D window by double-clicking it, deselect an object by double-clicking another object or by double-clicking the background.

Tips and tricks Double-clicking a volume or polygon object in the Scene Tree will show a dialog listing all available properties of that object.

DeleteDelete a selected entry by pressing the <Del> key on your keyboard.

RenameTo rename a selected entry, click it or press the <F2> key.

Vis ib i l i tyActivate the checkbox in front of an object to display it in the scene. Deac-tivate the checkbox if the object shall not be displayed in the 2D and 3D

T

S C E N E TR E E T O O LEntries in the Scene Tree


1 6

views. This will change the visibility status only, all other settings will remain unchanged. If you want to toggle the visibility of multiple objects, select them and click the right mouse button to bring up the context menu. In the menu, choose the according visibility status.

Status indicatorsA lock icon indicates the status of an object (not applicable for all types of objects).

• closed lockThe object is locked in the scene. This implies that rotating the object will rotate the camera. The relative position of the object in the scene will not be changed. Click the lock icon to unlock the object.

• closed lock with a red R The object has been locked in the scene after a registration. Click the lock icon to unlock and unregister the object.

• open lock The object is unlocked. This implies that rotating the object will change the relative position of the object in the scene. Otherwise, the scene will remain unchanged. Click the lock icon to lock the object.

• warning sign If the basis of an analysis has changed (e.g. coordinate systems in case of a nominal/actual comparison), the analysis is marked to indicate that the results are no longer valid.

ElementsAn icon indicates the type of each object. The following types of objects are displayed in the Scene Tree:

• volume objects top-level object, a red C in the icon indicates that the object has been cali-brated, a red C+ indicates an advanced calibration (see Calibrate in chapter Object menu on page 5-2)

• polygons top-level object

• camera top-level object, only one camera per scene

• light sources attached to top-level objects, the scene should have at least one light source

• regions of interestattached to a volume object

. . .

. .S C E N E TR E E T O O LMenu options


• featuresattached to a volume or polygon object

• instrumentsattached to a volume or polygon object

• reference objectsattached to a volume or polygon object

• wall-thickness resultsattached to a volume object or a ROI, results of wall-thickness analyses

• defect detection resultsattached to a volume object or a ROI, results of defect detections

• nominal/actual comparisonsattached to a volume object or a ROI, results of nominal/actual compari-sons

• annotationsattached to analyses

• clipping objects attached to a volume or polygon object

• groupstop-level object, groups of top-level objects or of lower-level objects

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Menu options

Right-click an entry in the Scene Tree tool for a menu listing available options for the selected object(s). The menu will differ depending on the type of the object(s). Menu options available for the selected object type but currently not applicable will be disabled.

New >The options in this submenu will differ depending on the type of the selected object.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G E N E R A L O P T I O N S

• Point light / Directional light / Spot lightCreates an additional light source of the selected type for the selected object.

• Clipping plane / Clipping box / Aligned clipping boxCreates a clipping object of the selected type. The clipping will be applied to the selected items in the Scene Tree.

S C E N E TR E E T O O LMenu options


1 6

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A N A L Y S I S A N D M E A S U R E M E N T O P T I O N S

• Nominal/actual comparisonOpens the nominal/actual comparison dialog to perform a comparison on the item selected in the Scene Tree and another object to be specified. Equivalent to the entry in the Analysis menu.

• Defect detectionOpens the defect detection dialog to perform an analysis on the item selected in the Scene Tree. Equivalent to the entry in the Analysis menu.

• Wall thicknessOpens the wall thickness dialog to perform an analysis on the item selected in the Scene Tree. Equivalent to the entry in the Analysis menu.

• Annotation (defect detection / nominal/actual comparison / wall thickness)Creates an annotation for the selected defect detection, nominal/actual comparison or wall thickness analysis respectively.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R E G I O N O F I N T E R E S T O P T I O N S

• ROI from calibrationCreates a ROI based on the calibration of the selected object (Calibrate in chapter Object menu on page 5-2). The ROI will include all voxels with at least 50% coverage of material.

• ROI from defect maskCreates a ROI based on the defect mask. The new ROI will include all defect areas, i.e. all voxels being part of a defect.

• ROI from reference objectOnly available for sphere, cylinder and cone reference objects. Creates a new Region of Interest that represents the covered volume of the selected refer-ence object.

Import >Import templates and apply them to the selected object.

• ROI template(s)Imports a .vgr file and applies the template to create a new ROI.

• measurement templateImports templates for measurements defined on a similar object and applies the measurements. Measurements will be refitted so that they show the dimensions of the current object.

Export >Export templates so that you can later apply them to another object.

. . .



• ROI template(s)Exports a .vgr file containing the ROI information which you can later use to create a ROI on a similar object.

• Measurement templateExports a measurement template which you can later apply on a similar object.

• Indicator annotationsExports a template of the selected indicator annotations containing infor-mation about their positions, names and group affiliation. You can use those templates later on similar objects.

• Nominal/actual comparison annotationsExports a template of the selected nominal/actual comparison annotations containing information about their positions, names, group affiliation and tolerance values. You can use those templates later on similar objects.

• Wall thickness annotationsExports a template of the selected wall thickness annotations containing information about their positions, names, group affiliation and tolerance values. You can use those templates later on similar objects.

Al ign s l ices to object• Align slices to object

Aligns the slice views axis-parallel to a selected reference object or a selected clipping plane.

Vis ib i l i ty on / o f fToggle the visibility of the selected item. This menu entry corresponds to the visibility checkbox of each item but allows you to toggle the visibility of multiple items at the same time.

Cut / Copy / PasteCut, copy or paste the selected item. This corresponds to the entries in the Edit menu (see chapter Edit menu).

DeleteDeletes the selected item. Equivalent to Edit > Delete.

RenameRenames the selected item. If multiple items are selected, this menu entry changes to Rename (multi) and leads to a dialog in which you can systemati-cally modify the naming of multiple objects.



1 6

Group / UngroupGrouping is available for multiple top-level objects and for objects of the same lower level of one top-level object. You can group objects of the same type (e.g., two light sources), of compatible type (e.g., a voxel object and a polygon model, a voxel object and a clipping plane) or create groups of groups.

For transformation operations (move, rotate), a group behaves like a single object. The rotation center is the center of the group.

ResetResets the position and orientation of objects that are not locked to their initial state.

Merge polygon objectsMerges polygon objects, thereby creating a new polygon object. Use this option if you want to perform a nominal/actual comparison of an object for which the polygon template is split across several files.

Proper t iesDisplays properties of the selected volume object, polygon model or analy-sis object. You can also open this dialog by double-clicking an entry. Choosing the properties option on analysis objects will show the according analysis dialog. See the respective chapters for a detailed description.

For render objects the properties dialog consists of two tabs, General and File list. The general property information varies depending on the type of object (volume object or polygon model).

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G E N E R A L P R O P E R T I E S ( V O L U M E O B J E C T S )

The Data info section contains information on Endianness and Datatype (for volume objects).

The overall scanned area is quantified in the Bounding box info. Note that this usually comprises the surrounding air, not only the scanned object. The bounding box is displayed in the 3D window.

The bounding box related information contains

• the Dimensions [voxel] in x, y, and z

• the Resolution on the x, y, and z axis, i.e. the size of a voxel in this axis

• the overall Voxel count in the bounding box

• the Dimensions in the scene unit (e.g. mm)

. . .



The Object info provides information on the scanned object as defined by the calibration (see Calibrate in chapter Object menu on page 5-2). This includes the dimensions of the smallest possible bounding box around the object and the volume of the material (as defined by calibration) in this bounding box. If the object is not calibrated, the results will depend on the renderer (volume renderer or isosurface renderer).

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G E N E R A L P R O P E R T I E S ( P O L Y G O N M O D E L S )

The section Object info contains information on the number of vertices (Ver-tex count) and triangles (Triangle count) defining the polygon. The object is analyzed for Bad edges and Bad triangles.

Click the Update button if you are interested in the Surface area and the Dimensions (x, y, and z). The dimensions describe the smallest possible bounding box around this object.

Clicking Update will analyze the angles in the triangles and display the number of occurrences of the angles in a diagram.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F I L E L I S T

Displays a list of the files on disk containing the data of the selected object. The information refers to the data as stored in the file. Thus the volume size can vary from the volume size of the object in the scene if the object has for example been imported applying a ROI.

Coordinate measur ing opt ionsThese options are can be found inside the Measurements Menu, too. See Ref-erence object actions on page 26-28.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S H O W / H I D E F I T P O I N T S

These actions show/hide all fit points for all currently selected reference objects. Shown fit points are displayed in all 2D and 3D views using a color-coding scheme.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S A V E F I T P O I N T I N F O R M A T I O N

Saves a CSV-file containing information about the fit points of all selected reference objects. The information includes the point position in the cur-rently selected coordinate system, the fit point deviation, and additionally the reference object’s normal orientation at the fit point position. You can select multiple reference objects to save their combined fit point informa-tion in a single file.



1 6

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R E F I T R E F E R E N C E E L E M E N T ( S )

Trigger a refit for the selected reference object(s). If an entire volume/poly-gon is selected, all reference objects below are refitted. Refitting reference objects manually is necessary if, for instance, the parent volume has been re-calibrated. To check whether a reference object needs refitting, inspect its Status (see Dialog: Reference object properties on page 26-9). The sta-tus is also indicated by a warning icon to the left of the object in the Scene Tree.

Refitting all reference objects can take some time, and the refitting might fail or produce warnings for some of the refitted objects. This will be reflected by their Status afterwards.

ROI opt ions• Enable ROI render settings

Please refer to Enable ROI rendering settings in chapter Select menu on page 6-10.

• Disable ROI render settingsPlease refer to Disable ROI rendering settings in chapter Select menu on page 6-10.

• Add ROI to ROIPlease refer to Add ROI to ROI in chapter Select menu on page 6-10.

• Subtract ROI from ROIPlease refer to Subtract ROIs from ROI in chapter Select menu on page 6-10.

• Intersect ROI with ROIPlease refer to Intersect ROI with ROI in chapter Select menu on page 6-10.

• Split ROIPlease refer to Split ROI in chapter Select menu on page 6-11.

• Merge ROIsPlease refer to Merge ROIs in chapter Select menu on page 6-11.

• Invert ROIPlease refer to Invert ROI in chapter Select menu on page 6-11.

• Extract ROIPlease refer to Extract ROI in chapter Select menu on page 6-11.


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .CLIPPING TOOL 17

lipping objects enable you to render parts of a volumetric/polygo-nal object transparent independent of the Render Settings of the volu-metric/polygonal object. This is done by cutting away parts of the

volumetric/polygonal object using a geometric (plane or box) object.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . General

Clipping objects can be created either directly from the Object menu or from the context menus of the 3D window and the Scene Tree (invoke a context menu with a right mouse click).

A clipping plane can also be created using the Scissors icon at the bottom of each of the 2D windows or from the 2D windows context menu. In this case the plane is automatically located at the slice location shown in the 2D window from which the clipping plane is created.

The transformation and scaling of a clipping object can be reset to its default values via the Reset function in the context menu.

Multiple clipping objects can be combined to achieve more complex clip-ping regions.

To share a clipping object between multiple volume/polygon objects, group these together and define the clipping object for the group.

Cl ipping p laneDefines a planar geometry for clipping. Any parts of the volumetric/polyg-onal object laying above the plane in the direction of its surface normal will be clipped.

Tips and tricks Use the <Ctrl> key in conjunction with any of the modes for finer control.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R O T A T E M O D E

Click and draw with the mouse:

Use the left mouse button to rotate the clipping plane around its origin.

The middle mouse button will spin the clipping plane around its origin and the viewing direction.

C

C L I P P I N G T O O LGeneral


1 7

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M O V E M O D E


Use the left mouse button to translate the clipping plane up/down and left/right relative to the 3D view, i.e. perpendicular to the viewing direc-tion.

The middle mouse button will translate the clipping plane in/out relative to the 3D view, i.e. along the viewing direction.

Cl ipping boxSpecifies a box for clipping. Any parts of the volumetric/polygonal object outside the box will be clipped.

Pressing and holding the left mouse button over any of the yellow handles on the sides of the clipping box enables you to resize the clipping box inde-pendently of the rotation/translation mode of the 3D window. Press, hold and drag in the directions perpendicular to the side to resize the clipping box.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R O T A T I O N M O D E


Use the left mouse button to rotate the clipping box around its origin.

The middle mouse button will spin the clipping box around its origin and the viewing direction.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . T R A N S L A T I O N M O D E


Use the left mouse button to translate the clipping box up/down and left/right relative to the 3D view, i.e. perpendicular to the viewing direc-tion.

The middle mouse button will translate the clipping box in/out relative to the 3D view, i.e. along the viewing direction.

Al igned c l ipping boxSpecifies an object aligned box for clipping. Any parts of the volumet-ric/polygonal object outside the box will be clipped. The aligned clipping box can not be rotated or translated nor can it be scaled to be any larger that the original volumetric object on which it was defined.

A left mouse click will position the mouse over any of the yellow handles on the sides of the clipping box. Press, hold and drag in the directions per-pendicular to the side to resize it.

. . .

. .C L I P P I N G T O O LStatus Information


Warning The aligned clipping box is only available for volumetric objects.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Status Information

Displays the name of the selected clipping object in green color. If no clip-ping object is currently selected in the Scene Tree, the text “No clipping object selected” is displayed in red and all controls are disabled.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . General

This tab shows all controls applicable to all types of clipping objects.

AppearanceActivate the checkbox to invert the region used for clipping. For clipping planes, inverting the clipping region will swap the sides used for clipping. For (aligned) clipping boxes, inverting the clipping region will render any-thing inside the clipping box transparent.

Opaci tyControls the opacity value of the clipped region. Move the slider to modify the opacity or enter an opacity value in the edit box. The value will be clipped to the range [0;1].

The opacity setting is not available for clipped polygon objects.

ResetResets the rotation, translation and scaling of the selected clipping object to the default values (Opacity and inversion state are left unchanged).

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Al igned Clipping box

This tab is only enabled if an aligned clipping box is selected.

BoundaryThe minimum and maximum values (in voxels) of the clipping region.

ResetResets the boundary of the aligned clipping box to its default values which corresponds to the bounding box of the respective sample grid of the vol-ume.

C L I P P I N G T O O LAligned Clipping box


1 7


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .POLYGON RENDERING TOOL 18

olygon rendering is supported by VG Stud io MAX 2 .0 . For information on compatible formats and how to import polygon objects, refer to Import: Polygon/CAD in chapter File menu on page 3-16.

Polygon objects can be assigned separate materials for front and back face. In addition, polygon objects can be clipped by clipping planes or clipping boxes (see chapter Clipping tool) and can be illuminated by different light sources (see chapter Light tool).

Warning Due to restrictions of OpenGL, most systems support only up to six clipping planes. In this context, every side of a clipping box that actually clips the object counts as a separate clipping plane.

In the 3D view only the front face of the polygon object is rendered by default. The material properties for front and back face can be specified independently. The polygon object can not only be rendered solid, but also as wireframe or point cloud.

In the 2D view one slice of the polygon object is rendered. The color of the outline can be chosen.


Displays the name of the selected polygon object.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . General

Preset se lect ionSave your changes by choosing Save preset from right pull down menu. With Export preset and Import preset the settings made in the tool can be saved and loaded into a file. Choose one of the default presets to exclu-sively set one of the following options: Render solid, Render wireframe, Ren-der point cloud. All changes made in the tool are overwritten by choosing a preset.

Render sol idActivate this option to render the triangles of the polygon object.

P

P O L Y G O N R E N D E R I N G T O O LGeneral


1 8

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S H A D I N G M O D E L

Choose Flat to show each triangle of the polygon object. The color between the triangle vertices is not interpolated.

Choose Smooth to get the color of the triangle vertices interpolated. This results in a much cleaner object surface.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C U L L F A C E

In the Cull face pull-down menu you specify the face of the polygon object that is not rendered. Choose Front to render the back face only. Choose Back to render the front face only. Choose Disabled to render both faces.

The image below shows a polygonal object that is rendered solid.

Render wiref rameActivate this option to render the wireframe of the polygon object, i.e. the lines between the triangle vertices.

Double click the quadratic box to select the line Color. Use the spin box to specify the Line width in pixels.

The image below shows a the wireframe of a polygonal object.

. . .

. .P O L Y G O N R E N D E R I N G T O O LMaterial


Render point c loudActivate this option to render the point cloud of the polygon object, i.e. tri-angle vertices.

Double click the quadratic box to select the point Color. Use the spin box to specify the Point size in pixels.

The image below shows a the point cloud of a polygonal object.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Material

Assign a material to every face of the polygon object and a color to the out-line in the 2D view.

Tips and tricks The ambient and diffuse color of the front face of a certain polygon define the color of the corresponding icon in the Scene Tree to allow an easy identification.

Mater ia l face set t ingsChoose Front face or Back face whether you want to change the Color and Intensity of the front or back side of the polygon object.

Tips and tricks The Back face of the polygon object is only relevant if you clip the object or if you search visually for mesh defects. Switch off rendering the Back face by choosing Back from the Cull face pull down menu in the General tab to gain rendering performance.

Color and Intensi tyDouble click the respective quadratic box to choose the color for the Ambi-ent, Diffuse or Specular component of the material. Use the spin box to choose the intensity of the material color component.

P O L Y G O N R E N D E R I N G T O O LMaterial


1 8

The color and intensity of the material defines how much of the light is reflected from the object’s surface in each of the three components ambi-ent, diffuse and specular. The Shininess controls the size and brightness of the highlight of the specular component.

Sl ice colorDouble click the quadratic box to choose the Color for the outline of the polygon object in the 2D views.


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .TRANSFORM TOOL 19

he Transform tool is designed to manipulate spatial properties like position and orientation, and geometric properties like center, scale and resolution for a selected object. The tool is organized into sev-

eral tab pages in which you inspect and modify the specific properties.


This section displays information about the current status of the Transform tool. If a valid object is selected it‘s name is displayed in green color. A valid object is either a voxel data set, a polygonal model or a region of interest. The Status information display also gives you a hint if the transform property tool is deactivated for you current selection in the Scene Tree (e.g. No object with transformation selected).

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Coordinate system

Select a coordinate system from the pull down to inspect and manipulate values relative to the selected coordinate system.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posit ion (Pos)

To modify the position, enter the exact position value in x, y and z coordi-nates. You may also use the up and down arrows to increase or reduce the values. Click the Reset button to restore the initial position.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rotation (Rot)

Specify the rotation of an object either in Standard or Advanced mode. Switch between Standard/Advanced mode by clicking the Standard/Advanced button.

• StandardThe Standard dialog provides you with an interface where you enter incre-mental rotation values for each axis. Enter the incremental rotation around the x, y, or z axis or use the up and down arrows to increase or reduce the rotation values.

T

TR A N S F O R M T O O LCenter


1 9

• AdvancedThe Advanced dialog provides you with an interface where you enter abso-lute rotation values for the selected object. The absolute rotation is defined by a normalized vector in 3D space serving as rotational axis and a rotation angle around this vector.

Enter the x, y or z coordinates to define the rotational axis or use the up and down arrows to increase or reduce the x, y or z values.

Enter the absolute rotation angle around the rotational axis defined by the x, y and z values or use the up and down arrows to increase or reduce the rotation angle.

Press the Reset button to reset the orientation of the selected object to its original value.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Center

Specify the center of the selected object. By default the origin of an object is at (Xmax/2, Ymax/2, Zmax/2), where Xmax, Ymax and Zmax describe the extent of the object’s bounding box.

Enter the x, y or z coordinates of the desired center or use the up and down arrows to increase or reduce the x, y, or z values.

Press the Reset button to restore the default center values.

The center of an object is important for rotations, as it defines the position of the axis of rotation.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Resolution

This Option can only be applied to voxel data sets. Specify the size of a voxel by modifying the resolution values.

Warning Modifying the resolution will change the geometry of the voxel data set and therefore invalidate any existing analysis results for this voxel data set.

Press the Override button to show the Override resolution dialog. Enter the x, y or z resolution values or use the up and down arrows to increase or reduce the x, y, or z values.


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .LIGHT TOOL 20

ight sources in VG S tud io MAX 2 .0 can be of type directional, point and spot. Both volume and polygon objects can be illuminated with the phong shading algorithm. Shadows are supported by software

volume renderers only and have to be activated for each light source.

The light sources can be created by choosing New > and the type of light source from the context menu of the Scene Tree Tool. Only if selected in the Scene Tree the light source is shown in the 2D and 3D view and can be modified there with the mouse:

• In the 3D view it can be rotated and moved.

• In the 2D view start and end point can be modified. To initially place a light source click somewhere in the window and move the mouse into the light direction while holding down the left mouse button.

Warning The light object can be modified only if the lock icon in the Scene Tree is opened for this object.


Displays the name of the selected light source.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . General

Preset se lect ionChoose Default light to set the default attributes for the light source. This overwrites all changes in the tool. To save your own changes choose Save preset from the right pull down menu.With Export preset and Import preset the attributes of the light source can be saved and loaded into a file.

TypeSelect the type of the light source.

• DirectionalA light source sending out a parallel bundle of light rays in a particular

L

L I G H T T O O LGeneral


2 0

direction. The light intensity does not drop with distance. See the figure below for an example of a Directional light source.

• PointA single point in space sending out light equally in all directions. The intensity of the light decreases proportional to the square of the distance to the light source. This is comparable to an infinitely small unshaded light bulb.See the figure below for an example of a Point light source.

• SpotSimilar to a point light but emission is limited to within a cone much like a regular desk lamp. Thus this light type has an angular setting to define the size of the cone: The Cutoff Angle and an additional attenuation

. . .

. .L I G H T T O O LGeneral


Exponent can be set in the Advanced tab.See the figure below for an example of a Spot light source.

Color and Intensi tySpecify the intensity and color of the light components here: Double click the quadratic box to select the color of the respective light component. Enter its intensity into the text field.

• OverallSets the light intensity globally and affects all three light components: ambient, diffuse and specular.

Tips and tricks You can also modify the overall intensity of a selected light source by moving the scroll wheel while the mouse pointer is over the 3D window.

• AmbientThe light component for general illumination.

• DiffuseThe light component that comes from one direction and scatters equally into all directions.

• SpecularThe light component that comes from a particular direction and bounces of into a preferred direction. It is responsible for the shininess of a lighted object.

L I G H T T O O LAdvanced


2 0

See the figure below for an illustration of the different light components.

Shadow modeSwitch shadows of the selected light source on or off here. Not all render-ers support shadows or only for one light source.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Advanced

Attenuat ionPoint and spot light sources support attenuation. This is the intensity decrease of the light source along the light direction. The easiest way to work with it is to use the Constant or Gradient buttons:

. . .

. .L I G H T T O O LAdvanced


• Constant sets the light source to have no attenuation at all. The Linear and Quadratic factors are set to 0. The Constant factor is set to 1. This is the default.

• Gradient sets the attenuation so that the half of the intensity decrease of the light source lies within the 2D view. This intensity is shown by a dashed circle around the light source and can be modified with the mouse.

Spot• The spot light source supports a Cutoff Angle for its shade. You can either

enter a value in the text box or modify it with the mouse: Use <Ctrl> + left mouse button on it and move up or down in the 2D view to open or close the shade.

• The Exponent value controls the decrease of the light intensity along the cone radius. The higher the exponent, the faster the decrease of the light intensity.

L I G H T T O O LAdvanced


2 0


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .CAMERA TOOL 21

he 3D view of VG Studio MAX is rendered using a virtual camera placed in the scene together with the volumetric/polygonal data. Various properties such as camera position, viewing direction and

aperture angle can be controlled using this tool.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . General

Camera Or ientat ion

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D E F A U L T C A M E R A V I E W S .

The Camera tool includes shortcuts to fourteen default camera views, rela-tive to the selected coordinate system. They can be used for quick viewing and generation of reference screenshots. These default views are along the three major axis (in both directions) as well as from positions along each of the four diagonals (one position for each corner).

The button centers the selected object in the 3D view (via a transla-tion along the screen plane).

The button focuses the selected object in the 3D view (via a transla-tion along the viewing direction).

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P O S I T I O N

Display and manipulate the position of the camera (in the current coordi-nate system) here.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F O C A L P O I N T

Display and manipulate the position to which the camera is focused here.

The view direction can be obtained by subtracting the Position coordinates from the Focal point coordinates (and normalizing the result).

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U P V E C T O R

Specifies the vertical orientation of the camera, that means it implicitly sets the axial rotation of the camera relative to the view direction.

T

C A M E R A T O O LStereo


2 1

Project ion mode

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P E R S P E C T I V E

Renders the 3D models as seen by a single human eye: Spatial forshorten-ing and apparent size as a function of distance is taken into account. That means that objects look smaller the further away they are.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P A R A L L E L

Renders the 3D models without perspective correction such that the rela-tive proportions of an object are maintained independent of distance.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S T E R E O - P E R S P E C T I V E

Renders a pair of perspective images of the scene. The camera positions of the two images are slightly offset to mimic for example the offset between the right and left eye. When viewed correctly the image pair will create the perception of observing the objects in the scene in three dimensions.

Stereo viewing requires additional hardware either in the form of special glasses or dedicated displays.

View AngleSpecifies the vertical viewing angle (in degrees) of the camera.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stereo

This tab is only active when Projection mode: Stereo-Perspective is chosen.

Image mode

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A N A G L Y P H I M A G E R E D - G R E E N , R E D - B L U E , R E D - C Y A N

Encodes the left and right eye images into the respective color channels of the display (anachrome stereo). To view the result in stereo, a pair of (inex-pensive) 2 color glasses are required.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I N T E R L A C E D

Encodes the left and right eye images into one image where either the rows or columns are alternatively taken from the left or right image. This mode requires special display video formats and/or special glasses.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L E F T I M A G E O N L Y

Displays the left eye image only.

. . .

. .C A M E R A T O O LStereo


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R I G H T I M A G E O N L Y

Displays the right eye image only.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O P E N G L

Alternates between showing the left and right eye images (active stereo). This mode requires additional hardware for stereo viewing (stereo glasses and a synchronization transmitter).

Sett ings modeThe degree of stereo perception depends on the relative scale of such parameters as eye, focal and image plane distances relative to the distance to the viewed object and its size. By tuning these parameters to the specific scene the 3D experience can be optimized.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F I X E D F O C A L D E P T H

Lets you vary the focal distance, but uses fixed scaling.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F I X E D V I E W E R - S C E N E S C A L I N G

Assumes an infinite focal distance and lets you scale the viewing parame-ters relative to the Scene (Scene Zoom).

Eye d istanceSets the interocular (eye) distance.

Display d istanceSets the distance between the eyes/cameras and the 2D image plane.

Focal depthSet the distance at which the eyes are focused, i.e the distance at which the view vectors from each eye/camera cross. Only available in the Fixed Focal Depth mode.

Scene ZoomSets the scale between the viewing parameters and the Scene. Only avail-able in the Fixed viewer-scene scaling mode.

C A M E R A T O O LStereo


2 1


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ANIMATION TOOL 22

se the Animation Tool to view and manipulate settings in the keyframer mode in VG Studio MAX . This tool is only available while the keyframer mode is active. Activate it via the corresponding menu action, see

Keyframer mode on page 10-1.

Table 22-1: Animation tool options lists the tool options with a brief description. They will be explained in detail later in this chapter.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . General remarks

In keyframer mode, changes made to settings in the current scene are only applied to the current keyframe. If you make a relevant change (e.g. rotat-ing a volume object in the scene, or adjusting its opacity curve) and the cur-rent frame is not a keyframe, VG S tud io MAX automatically creates a keyframe at the current time.

Option Icon Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reset velocity curve

Reset the velocity curve

Toggle fixed camera lookat

Choose if you want the camera looking at the same position for all frames

Play mode Choose between Single, Loop and Oscillate Play mode

First frame Jump to first framePrevious key Jump to previous keyframePrevious frame Jump to previous framePlay backwards Start playing back the animation backwardsPlay Start playing back the animationNext frame Jump to next frameNext key Jump to next key frameLast frame Jump to last frameRender anima-tion

Renders the animation

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TABLE 22-1: ANIMATION TOOL OPTIONS

U

A N I M A T I O N TO O LVelocity curve


2 2

Keyframes are directly connected to the camera trajectory. In keyframer mode, the trajectory is visible in all 2D views. The circular handles along the trajectory represent keyframes (i.e. the camera’s spatial positions at keyframe-times). Left-click a handle to make this keyframe the current frame (hold <Shift> to prevent dragging the handle involuntarily). Middle-click an existing handle to remove it, thus deleting all animation informa-tion for the associated keyframe. Middle-click the trajectory-curve to cre-ate a new keyframe at the specified position.

The camera trajectory is determined by the position of the keyframe han-dles and the tangent lines displayed at the handles. Left-click and drag a keyframe handle to move it, or left-click and drag one of the two tangent handles to alter the curvature of the trajectory around the respective key-frame position.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Velocity curve

The velocity curve determines the speed profile of the camera trajectory. It denotes the relative camera speed dependent on the arc-length of the trajec-tory.

The velocity curve is determined by a number of control points. Middle-click the velocity graph to insert a new control point. Drag existing control points with the left mouse button. Left-click the background of the velocity curve to drag the whole graph. Left-click while holding <Shift> and move the mouse up/down or left/right to zoom the display along the vertical or horizontal axis respectively.

Note that the velocity curve denotes relative speeds: the absolute speeds are determined by the total duration of the animation and the length of the tra-jectory. Thus, every horizontal velocity profile produces the same result.

Also note that a zero velocity is not possible at any point because the cam-era would not move on in the velocity vs. relative length diagram after that point. Thus, dragging the velocity curve to the very bottom does not result in a zero velocity, but rather in a very small value.

The velocity curve is also relative along the x-axis. It denotes the speed profile from the beginning of the camera trajectory to its end. Changing the trajectory’s length (by manipulating the trajectory curve in a 2D view) does not change the velocity curve in any way; the same curve is now applied with respect to the entire new trajectory length.

The yellow bars in the velocity display indicate the keyframe positions. Left-click on a bar to make this keyframe the current frame. A white bar indicates the position of the current frame.

. . .

. .A N I M A T I O N TO O LPlayback manipulation area


Tips and tricks Right-click on the velocity display to access the copy & paste functionality as described in Copy current state in chapter Animation Menu on page 10-3.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Playback manipulation area

Display and change global information about the animation, like the total animation length, the current frame or the movie image size.

Reset ve loci ty curveResets the velocity curve to a constant speed profile.

Toggle f ixed camera lookatIf this option is enabled, the camera looks at the same position in all frames. If it is disabled, you can specify for each keyframe separately in which direction the camera is looking.

Play modeChange this mode to adjust the behavior of the Play (backwards) animation playback. The Play mode can be:

• Single: playback stops after the last (first) frame has been reached

• Loop: playback starts again after last (first) frame has been reached

• Oscillate: playback reverses direction after last (first) frame has been reached

Fi rst f rameJumps to first frame.

Previous keyJumps to previous key frame.

Previous f rameJumps to previous frame.

Play (backwards)Starts/pauses (backwards) playback of animation. This does not write any-thing to disk; it is just an interactive way to view the animation. VG Stud io MAX stays responsive during play; however, as soon as you modify any objects or keyframer settings, the playback stops.

A N I M A T I O N TO O LPlayback manipulation area


2 2

Next f rameJumps to next frame.

Next keyJumps to next key frame.

Last f rameJumps to last frame.

Render animat ionStarts rendering the animation. For more details, please refer to Render Animation in chapter Animation Menu on page 10-2.

Size (X/Y)These controls specify the video output size in pixels, i.e. they determine the size of the movie created by the Render animation command. They also affect the aspect ratio of the 3D view; ensuring that the 3D view shows the same visible area that will be shown by the rendered movie.

DPIUse the DPI setting to adjust the sizes of all “display-relative” elements in the rendered scene. This will affect font sizes, line widths and instrument handle sizes. Note that while in keyframer mode, the 3D view will also reflect this DPI setting to give you an impression of the relative size of the fonts etc.

Current t ime (minutes+seconds+frames)Display and edit the current time in minutes, seconds, and frames (see FPS). You can also use the horizontal scroll bar directly underneath the velocity graph to change the current time.

Tota l t ime (minutes+seconds+frames)Specifies the total movie time in minutes, seconds, and frames (see FPS). Note that the seconds and frames input controls are not limited to 0 to 59 and 0 to (FPS-1) respectively, but allow all values. The carry-over and con-version to “normalized” minutes/seconds/frames is done internally.

FPSDefines the animation’s frame rate in frames per second. This affects the total number of frames in the rendered animation, as well as the step size of the Current time (frames) control (as a second is split up into as many frames as specified in the FPS setting).


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .VOLUME ANALYZER TOOL 23

he Volume Analyzer tool is used to calculate various properties of the voxels in the selected volume or ROI. The Connected component analysis part of the tool uses the Defect detection add-on module

which requires additional licensing.

Invoke the tool via Analysis > Volume analyzer.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Data histogram

Analyzes the voxel data within the selected region. The voxel data to be analyzed can be further restricted by specifying a gray value range.

Histogram areaShows the gray value distribution/histogram of the data within the selected region. The gray value range of the voxels to be analyzed can be specified by moving the two red sliders, the left and right slider setting the minimum and maximum gray value respectively. Each slider indicates the gray value at the slider position as well as the total number of voxels having the spe-cific gray value. Pressing <Shift> + left mouse button moves the sliders as a pair while keeping the interval width constant. Pressing <Ctrl> + left mouse button repositions the sliders to a narrow interval centered around the current cursor position. The voxels to be analyzed are shown in color in both the 2D and 3D views.

You can zoom in/out on the x and y axis respectively by pressing the corre-sponding +/- buttons in the lower right corner of the histogram. Use the horizontal/vertical sliders to scroll in the x/y directions.

Context Menu of Histogram area

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R E S E T Z O O M L E V E L

Resets the zoom factor of the histogram display.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R E S E T R A N G E P O L E S

Resets the position of the gray value range selector to the full gray value range within the selection.

T

VO L U M E A N A L Y Z E R T O O LData histogram


2 3

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S N A P P O L E S T O C U R S O R

Repositions the gray value range sliders to a narrow interval centered around the current cursor position.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L O C K S E L E C T I O N

Locks the data analyzed by this instance of the Volume analyzer to the cur-rently selected volume/ROI. If the tool is not locked selecting a different region in the Scene Tree will update the data being analyzed. This feature is useful when starting multiple instances of the Volume Analyzer to compare different region.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E X P O R T V A L U E S A S C S V

Exports the content of the Values fields as well as the gray values and voxel count for each gray value in the histogram to a comma separated file.

ValuesWhen the Values checkbox is on the following properties of the voxels in the selected region and gray value range are calculated:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M I N , M A X

Shows the minimum/maximum gray value of the voxels within the selected region and gray value range.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M E A N

Shows the average gray value of the voxels within the selected region and gray value range.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D E V I A T I O N

Shows the standard deviation in gray value of the voxels within the selected region and gray value range.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . V O L U M E

Shows the total geometric volume of voxels within the selected region and gray value range.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N U M B E R O F V O X E L S

Shows the total number of voxels within the selected region and gray value range.

. . .

. .VO L U M E A N A L Y Z E R T O O LConnected component analysis


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B E T W E E N C U R S O R S

Shows the percental number of voxels with a gray value within the gray value range relative to the total number of voxels within the selected region.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B O U N D I N G B O X [ X ] , [ Y ] , [ Z ]

Displays the x, y and z coordinate range of the minimal bounding box inscribing the voxels within the selected region and gray value range.

Cursor RangeSets the minimum and maximum gray value range of the interval to be ana-lyzed. (Equivalent to moving the two red sliders in the histogram). If the Cursor Range checkbox is off the min/max sliders in the histogram are dis-abled.

Histogram RangeSets the gray value range of the primary axis of the histogram.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Connected component analysis

The Connected component analysis uses the Defect detection add-on module which requires additional licensing.

The Connected component analysis detects the individual connected compo-nents of the voxels in the selected region and within the specified gray value range. For each component various properties such as position, sur-face area and volume is calculated and displayed.

Data tableLists each of the detected components including their calculated properties. Components can be highlighted in the 2D and 3D windows by selecting them in the table. A component is selected via left-click on the component. Other components can be added to the selection via <Shift> + left-click.

Use the sliders to scroll through the table.

Context menu of data table

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C O L U M N S >

Enables or disables the visibility of individual properties as separate col-umns in the table. By default all properties are visible.

VO L U M E A N A L Y Z E R T O O LConnected component analysis


2 3

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S A V E A S D E F A U L T C O L U M N L A Y O U T

Saves the current layout of the table as the default.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O R I G I N A L C O L U M N L A Y O U T

Reverts to the original table layout.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E X P O R T A S C S V

Exports the column description and values of all components in the table to a comma separated file.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C O P Y T O C L I P B O A R D

Copies the column description and values of each of the selected compo-nents into the clipboard.

Gray va lue range

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M I N / M A X G R A Y V A L U E

Defines the minimum and maximum gray value range of the interval to be analyzed.

Volume range

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M I N / M A X V O L U M E

If the Volume Range checkbox is on only components with a volume within the specified Min/Max range is show in the table and contribute to the sum total (Defects) statistics.

Defects

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Σ V O X E L

Shows the total number of voxels contained within all components in the table.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Σ V O L U M E

Shows the total volume of all the components in the table.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Σ S U R F A C E

Shows the total surface area of all the components in the table. Here, the surface is simply calculated voxel-wise, i.e. without a triangulation of the surface.

. . .

. .VO L U M E A N A L Y Z E R T O O LConnected component analysis


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Σ P X , Σ P Y , Σ P Z

Shows the sum of the projected surface areas of all the components in the table.

Mater ia l

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I S O V A L U E

Specify an iso value which defines the material boundary of the voxel data set to be analyzed. This option is only available if you did not select the Use calibration option on the Settings page.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . V O L U M E

The volume of the to be analyzed voxel data set.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D E F E C T S

The sum over all defect volumes.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P O R O S I T Y

The defect volume/(material volume + defect volume) ratio.

VO L U M E A N A L Y Z E R T O O LConnected component analysis


2 3


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .LAYOUT EDITOR 24

he Layout Editor is designed to define the arrangement and the type of workspace windows within the workspace. Additionally you define dependencies between specific workspace windows like a

common background color or the display mode.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Preset Selection

In the Preset selection section you manage layout presets. Select a preset from the pull down to apply it to the current workspace layout.

• Save presetClick to bring up the Save preset dialog. Enter a name for the preset or choose an entry from the pull down and click the Save button to store the current layout settings.Click the Cancel button to abort the save process.

• Remove presetClick to remove a preset from the pull down preset list.

• Import presetClick to open the Import preset file dialog. Specify the location from where to import the preset.

• Export presetClick to open the Export preset dialog. Specify the location where the preset should be exported to.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Split Mode

Split the currently selected workspace window to create two new work-space windows of equal type and size.

• VerticalClick to split the selected workspace window vertically into two new workspace windows.

• HorizontalClick to split the selected workspace window horizontally into two new workspace windows.

T

L A Y O U T E D I T O RGeneral options


2 4

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . General options

Apply general options in this section.

• ResetClick the Reset button to discard any changes applied to the layout and to restore the workspace preview‘s initial layout.

• Delete FrameClick the Delete frame button to remove a workspace window from the lay-out.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Window Types

Specify the type of a workspace window by selecting one of the following types:

• 3DThe window will be a 3D scene window.

• Top viewThe window will be a slice window with a top view.

• Bottom viewThe window will be a slice window with a bottom view.

• Right viewThe window will be a slice window with a right view.

• Left viewThe window will be a slice window with a left view.

• Front viewThe window will be a slice window with a front view.

• Back viewThe window will be a slice window with a back view.

• ProfileThe window will display a gray value profile.

For more details about the specific workspace windows see 3D Window in chapter Workspace on page 2-2 and 2D Windows in chapter Workspace on page 2-5.

Click the right mouse button while the mouse cursor is positioned over a workspace window to bring up the context menu. The context menu will contain every option which is applicable to the workspace window.

. . .

. .L A Y O U T E D I T O RLayout area


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Layout area

An interactive preview area displays the currently defined layout. You resize the different workspace windows by moving the mouse cursor over their respective window borders. The cursor will change to a resize cursor indicating by its shape the directions in which you can drag it to resize the workspace window.

Clicking inside a workspace window will mark it as currently selected workspace window. This is indicated by the red frame around the selected workspace window. Apply any option available in the button section to the left of the preview area to the selected window. The type of each work-space window is displayed as text within the preview frame.

Several features of slice view workspace windows (e.g. Top view, Bottom view etc.) can be linked together. Changing the value of a feature will change the value of every other feature linked to it at the same time.

To link a feature first select a slice view workspace window. Select a fea-ture within the Linked features list by clicking it. The selected feature will be highlighted with a blue color. Click into the area to the left of the selected feature. An icon indicating the link status will appear. The link icon will also appear in the Linked features list of every other slice view workspace window.

To unlink features click on the link icon again. Linking or unlinking fea-tures in the currently selected slice view workspace window (marked by the red frame around it) will affect all slice view workspace windows. Linking or unlinking features in an unselected slice view workspace win-dow will only affect the link status of features in the unselected window.

Linked featuresThe following features can be linked together:

• Window center pointThe view of each linked slice view workspace window is centered around a common point.

• ZoomThe zoom factor is common for each linked slice view workspace window.

• BackgroundThe background color is common for each linked slice view workspace window.

• InterpolationThe interpolation mode is common for each linked slice view workspace window.

L A Y O U T E D I T O RLayout area


2 4

• Display modeThe display mode is common for each linked slice view workspace win-dow.


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .TEXT OVERLAY EDITOR 25

he Text overlay editor is designed to decorate 2D windows and the 3D window with customizable text overlays. The text overlays will supply you with additional information (e.g. current slice position,

the window name or even DICOM tags) about the specific 2D/3D view. This feature is useful for reporting/documentation purposes (see also Save image(s)... in chapter File menu on page 3-21 and Save AVI/image stack ... in chapter File menu on page 3-22).

Configure the text overlay via Window > Text overlay editor or by right-click-ing into the 3D or 2D windows and choosing Text overlay > Configure...

The dialog is organized into two tab pages, the Slice views and the Scene view tab page. Both pages are structured identically. Click the Font settings button to show the preferences available for fonts. Click the Ok button to apply the current settings and close the editor. Click the Cancel button to close the dialog without applying any changes. Click the Apply button to get a preview of the current settings.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sl ice Views (and Scene View)

On each tab page you modify and inspect your text overlays.

Preset Select ionIn the Preset selection section you manage text overlay presets. Select a pre-set from the pull down to apply it to the current text overlay settings.

• SaveClick the Save button to execute the Save preset dialog. Enter a name for the preset or choose an entry from the pull down and click the Save button to store the current text overlay settings.Click the Cancel button to abort the save process

• RemoveClick the Remove button to remove a preset from the pull down preset list.

• ResetClick the Reset button to reset any modifications made on the active preset.

T

TE X T O V E R L A Y E D I T O RAvailable default text labels:


2 5

Text labelsThe Text labels section contains the currently available text labels. Select either predefined text labels or create custom text labels. The Available text labels section is a table containing the currently available text labels. The Selected text labels section is a table containing the currently selected text labels. Select an entry from the Available text labels table and click the > but-ton to add an entry to the Selected text labels table. Select an entry from the Selected text labels table and click the < button to remove the entry from the Selected text labels table.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Available default text labels:

The following text labels are available by default.

• <CoordinateSystem>Displays the name of the currently active coordinate system for the respec-tive window.

• <SlicePosition>Displays the current slice position (only available for 2D windows)

• <ViewZoom>Displays the current zoom factor (only available for 2D windows)

• <WindowName>Displays the name of the window. The name indicates the window type, e.g., Top, Front or Back refers to a 2D window, whereas Scene refers to a 3D window.

• <PatientID>Displays the PatienID DICOM tag (only available for DICOM data sets).

• <PatientName>Displays the PatientName DICOM tag (only available for DICOM data sets).

• <PixelSize>Displays the size of a pixel respective to the currently selected application unit.

• <SerialNumber>Displays the SerialNumber DICOM tag (only available for DICOM data sets)

• <StudyDescription>Displays the StudyDescription DICOM tag (only available for DICOM data sets)

. . .

. .TE X T O V E R L A Y E D I T O RAvailable default text labels:


• Ex: <StudyID>Displays the StudyID DICOM tag (only available for DICOM data sets)

• Se: <StudyNumber>Displays the StudyNumber DICOM tag (only available for DICOM data sets)

• <CustomLogo>Displays your custom logo. Drag this entry into the Selected text labels sec-tion and double-click it to show the Select logo image dialog. In the dialog you specify the location of your custom logo.

• <CustomText> Displays your custom text. Drag this entry into the Selected text labels sec-tion and double-click it to modify its text.

PreviewThe Preview area shows eight boxes in which you can place the selected text labels. The boxes indicate where the text labels will be positioned inside either the 2D or the 3D window. You can insert multiple text labels in each box.

TE X T O V E R L A Y E D I T O RAvailable default text labels:


2 5


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .MEASUREMENTS MENU 26

he Measurements menu of VG Stud io MAX provides means for coordi-nate measuring, i.e. enables you to fit reference objects to your cali-brated volumetric or geometric data and define measurements on

the data based on the reference objects (see Calibrate in chapter Object menu on page 5-2 for details on calibration).

Coordinate measurement (CM) is an optional add-on module for VG Stud io MAX and requires additional licensing.

Tips and tricks Reference objects and measurements can be used as templates and applied to other data sets either by storing and retrieving the template from disk or via copy and paste between the loaded data sets.

The Measurements tools can also be used to readjust the spatial dimensions of the volumetric data or to define new coordinate systems.

Table 26-1: Measurements Menu lists the menu entries with a brief description. They will be explained in detail later in this chapter.

Option Icon Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . New point Fit a point to the surface of the object.New line Fit a line to the surface of the object.New circle Fit a circle to the surface of the object.New plane Fit a plane to the surface of the object.New sphere Fit a sphere to the surface of the object.New cylinder Fit a cylinder to the surface of the object.New cone Fit a cone to the surface of the object.Define refer-ence object

Manually define any type of reference object with given geometric parameters.

Dimensioning Create a dimensional measurement based on (one or two) reference objects.

CM reporting Create/edit measurement features and create measurement reports.

Adjust resolu-tion

Adjust the volume resolution(s).

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TABLE 26-1: MEASUREMENTS MENU

T

M E A S U R E M E N T S M E N UNew point


2 6

In VG Studio MAX , there are seven types of Reference Objects (see description below), an arbitrary number of which can be created for any calibrated vol-umetric or geometric object. In the Scene Tree, Reference objects are listed in the Coordinate Measurement > Reference Objects section. There are three basic ways to define a Reference Object:

• Best-fit based on a set of given fit points on the calibration surfaceSee Dialog: Fit reference object on page 26-3.

• Directly specified geometric parametersSee Define reference object on page 26-8.

• Constructive approach based on existing source reference objectsSee Reference object manipulation on page 26-25.

Based on existing reference objects, define features to measure positions, distances, angles and radii. See Dimensioning on page 26-12.

Features rely on the definition of distinct coordinate systems. See Coordi-nate system editor on page 26-30.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . New point

Fits a reference point to the object based on one or more fit points. A point’s only geometric property is its position.

Resize refer-ence objects

Adjust the size of an existing reference object.

Reference object manipu-lation

Constructive definition of new reference objects based on existing (source) objects.

Reference object actions

Miscellaneous actions for selected reference objects.

Export Mea-surement tem-plate

Export selected reference objects and features as a template.

Import Mea-surement tem-plate

Import and refit a measurement template to a volume/polygon object.

Coordinate sys-tem editor

Create and edit coordinate systems.

Show coordi-nate system ori-gin

Toggle visibility of origin symbol.


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TABLE 26-1: MEASUREMENTS MENU

. . .

. .M E A S U R E M E N T S M E N UNew line


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . New l ine

Fits a reference line to the object based on two or more fit points. A line’s geometric properties are its position and direction.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . New circle

Fits a reference circle to the object based on three or more fit points. A cir-cle’s geometric properties are its center position, its orientation normal and its radius.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . New plane

Fits a reference plane to the object based on three or more fit points. A plane’s geometric properties are its center position and orientation normal.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . New sphere

Fits a reference sphere to the object based on four or more fit points. A sphere’s geometric properties are its center position and radius.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . New cylinder

Fits a reference cylinder to the object based on three or more fit points. A cylinder’s geometric properties are its center position, its direction and its radius.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . New cone

Fits a reference cone to the object based on three or more fit points. A cone’s geometric properties are its center position, its direction, its center radius and its conicity angle.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dialog: Fit reference object

All of the above New... commands lead to the Fit reference object dialog which allows you to specify various options for the reference object to be created. Some options, like the automatic fit point creation, are only avail-able for certain types of objects.

M E A S U R E M E N T S M E N UDialog: Fit reference object


2 6

The dialog consists of two tabs; the Creation tab contains all options used for the initial fit of the reference object, while the settings on the Refitting tab are only relevant if the object, at any point in its lifetime, must be fitted again (e.g. because of changes of the calibration surface or when pasting the object to another place).

While the fitting dialog is open, fit points can be set in any of the three 2D views and in the 3D view as well by holding the <Ctrl> key and pressing the left mouse button with the cursor over the desired location. If the mouse button is kept pressed it is possible to move the fit point to its final position before releasing the button.

In 2D views, the picked position is adjusted according to the global Snap mode. It is highly recommended to use the Nearest snap mode, in which the fit point will automatically be set at the location on the calibrated surface which is inside and closest to the center of the yellow snap region (see Cal-ibrate in chapter Object menu on page 5-2 for details on calibration).

Warning If you specify fit points which do not lie on the object’s surface, all following steps like auto expansion and iterative refinement are likely to fail, because they rely on finding correct nearby surfaces.If you feel tempted to use such artificial fit points to achieve your goal, a probably better approach is to define the entire reference object manually (see Define reference object on page 26-8). If you absolutely need fixed fit points, be sure to disable Auto expand and Auto fit points, and to set the Iterations option to zero.

After picking a sufficient number of points and setting all desired options, clicking the Fit button will create a new reference object. The dialog will stay open, and further objects can be fitted. Closing the dialog will cancel the fitting mode and discard any pending fit points and options.

Tips and tricks If you want to delete a fit point after you released the left mouse button, use the Undo option to do so.

Creat ionThe following creation parameters are available:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N A M E

You can enter a name for the reference object here. If this is not done, a name of the form <object type> <number> will automatically be gener-ated.

. . .

. .M E A S U R E M E N T S M E N UDialog: Fit reference object


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F I T M E T H O D • Least squares (Gaussian fit)

Minimizes the sum over all deviations of all fit points relative to the fitted reference object. For a large number of fit points the distribution of the deviations will usually result in a Gaussian shape. The reference object is positioned in such a way that the sum of negative deviations equals the sum of positive deviations.The Least squares fit method is available for all types of reference objects.

• Minimum zoneFits two intermediate reference objects to the volumetric/geometric object. The two reference objects are fitted to the extreme minimum and maximum extent of the fit points (inscribed reference object vs. inscribed fit points) such that the spacing between the two is minimal.

• For a plane or line the two intermediate objects have to be parallel.

• For a circle or sphere the centers have to coincide.

• For a cylinder or cone the center axes have to be identical.

The minimum zone reference object is then calculated as the geometric mean of the two intermediate reference objects.

The Minimum zone fit method is available for circles, planes, spheres, cylin-ders and cones.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A U T O F I T P O I N T S

Enables or disables automatic generation of new fit points.

Based on the fit points specified by the user a first intermediate reference object is fitted. If the Auto fit points option is selected, this intermediate ref-erence object is used to create a new set of fit points uniformly distributed across the surface of the intermediate reference object and then projected onto the surface of the voxel data. Individual fit points may be discarded depending on the settings of the Fit point filter options. Based on these fit points, the actual reference object is then calculated. This method dramati-cally increases the number of fit points used to fit a reference object and thus improves the overall quality of the fit. The re-fitting procedure can be iteratively repeated in which case the reference object fitted in the previous step becomes the new intermediate fit used in the next step.

The automatic fit point generation is always available for planes, spheres, cylinders and cones. If you want to use the option for fitting lower-order reference objects (i.e. lines and circles), you should pick the initial fitpoints in one of the 2D windows. This defines the plane where auto-fitpoints will

M E A S U R E M E N T S M E N UDialog: Fit reference object


2 6

be created afterwards. If you pick all your fitpoints in the 3D view, the matching-process will fail.

• Step widthDetermines the minimum grid spacing of the automatically generated fit points.

• Max pointsLimits the number of automatically generated fit points. Should the number of fit points generated by the Step width be larger than Max points, the actual grid spacing will be increased accordingly.

Warning Sampling the voxel object at a grid spacing much smaller than the voxel dimension does not nessecarily increase the accuracy of the measuring process.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F I T P O I N T F I L T E R O P T I O N S

• Search distanceWhen creating automatic fit points or adjusting existing points (see Itera-tions), VG Stud io MAX probes for the surface of the volumetric/polygonal object in both directions along a given search direction. The probing con-tinues at increasing distance from the intermediate reference object until either the surface is intersected (and fit point is created at this location) or a maximum search distance is reached (in which case no fit point is created).

• Max gradientThe maximum allowed angular deviation between the normal of the inter-mediate reference object and the surface normal of a fit point. If the actual angle is larger than the Max gradient value, the fit point is discarded.

• Edge voidDue to the nature of CT scanning a typical voxel data set never shows sharp edges. Instead, edges are rounded due to the finite scan resolution and the partial volume effect. Thus fit points close to an edge may result in or con-tribute to a false fit of a reference object. Should a fit point be discarded due to the Max gradient criterion or due to the maximum Search distance, then this could be indicative of an edge. In these cases all other fit points within a distance of Edge void around such a fit point are automatically dis-carded as well.

• IterationsAutomatic fit point generation or filtering of existing fit points can be done iteratively, each iteration creating/filtering fit points based upon the inter-mediate reference object from the previous pass. If Auto fit points is enabled, the current intermediate reference object will be used to create a new sam-pling grid to probe the surface according to the fit point filter options. The

. . .

. .M E A S U R E M E N T S M E N UDialog: Fit reference object


reference object created in the last iteration step becomes the actual refer-ence object resulting from the fitting procedure.Note that the Search distance is decreased with each iteration step until, at the final iteration, it reaches the value given by the user. That implies that previous iterations are performed using a larger search distance than speci-fied.Also note that all fit point filter options, including the iterations option, are available and relevant even if Auto fit points is disabled. Thus, even when not generating new fit points, the initial fit point set will be ensured to lie on the volume’s/polygon’s surface and will be subject to the Max gradient and Edge void checks. The default search direction used to adjust non-generated fit points is the direction of the volume’s/polygon’s surface normal at the fit point’s position.Specifying zero iterations will disable the filtering mechanism altogether.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F I T P O I N T S O P T I O N S

• Auto ExpandWhen this option is enabled VG Studio MAX will automatically generate a number of additional fit points close to the point originally set by the user. This increases the stability of the fitting procedure and helps reduce the number of fit points that have to be set manually to obtain an optimal refer-ence object fit.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A X I S C O N S T R A I N T

Available for cylinder and cone reference objects only.

Locks the direction of the major axis of the reference object to the specified vector in the selected coordinate system. That means only position, radius and conicity will be fitted/calculated.

Ref i t t ingThe following refitting parameters are available:

• Refit search distanceWhen refitting a reference object, the first step is to adjust every existing fit point to lie on the new calibrated object surface. The search distance for this process is determined here.

• Override creation settingsIf this option is enabled, the fit point generation and filter options used for refitting can be specified independently. By default, the option is disabled and the original settings from the Creation tab are used.One possible, common reason for overriding the creation settings is to dis-able the Auto fit points option to ensure that refitting does not generate any new fit points, but merely adjusts the points that were present before the

M E A S U R E M E N T S M E N UDefine reference object


2 6

refit. Another reason might be the adjustment of filter criteria, in case the object is initially fitted onto a perfect CAD-model (with rigid filtering options) and is meant to be refitted as a template on a lower-quality CT-dataset, where more tolerant filtering options are required.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Define reference object

Manually define a reference object by specifying its geometry relative to a given coordinate system. Enter all needed parameters and press the Define button to add the defined reference object to the selected volume/polygon.

While the Define reference object dialog is open, you will see a highlighted preview of the reference-object-to-be in the scene. It will directly respond to all changes you make in the dialog.

NameYou can enter a name for the reference object here. If this is not done, a name of the form <object type> <number> will automatically be gener-ated.

TypeChooses the type of reference object to be defined. All seven types of refer-ence objects are available (point, line, circle, plane, sphere, cylinder, cone).

Coordinate SystemAll lengths, positions and directions you specify for the new reference object will be interpreted with respect to this coordinate system. The actual position and orientation of the resulting reference object in the scene will thus depend on both the specified geometry and the definition of the chosen coordinate system.

Warning Note that the connection of the reference object’s geometry with the coordinate system is dynamic: if the coordinate system changes at some later time, the defined reference object will change as well!

Posi t ionSpecifies the center position of the reference object. Relevant for all types of reference objects.

Orientat ionSpecifies either the direction (line, cylinder, cone) or the normal vector (plane, circle) of the reference object. Not relevant for points and spheres.

. . .

. .M E A S U R E M E N T S M E N UDialog: Reference object properties


Tips and tricks Use the X/Y/Z buttons to quickly define an axis-aligned orientation.Use the Flip button to swap the direction of the currently entered orientation.Use the Norm button to normalize the currently entered orientation vector; note that normalization is not obligatory - the given orientation vector’s length is not relevant.

LengthSpecifies the finite length of the reference object. Relevant for lines, cylin-ders and cones.

Radius 1 /2Specifies needed radii (or analogous info) of the reference object. For cir-cles, spheres and cylinders, only Radius 1 is needed to define the actual radius. For planes, Radius 1 defines the half length of the created plane square. For cones, both radii are needed to define both ends of the (trun-cated) cone.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dialog: Reference object properties

To show the properties of a reference object either double click the refer-ence object in the Scene Tree or select the Properties option from the Scene Tree context menu.

Warning Be aware that all geometric properties like positions and directions will be displayed with respect to the currently selected coordinate system!

Proper t iesShows geometric and status properties of the reference object.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D E S C R I P T I O N

The object’s type and name. The name can be edited.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C O N S T R U C T I O N M E T H O D

Information about how this object was defined:

• [Least-squares/Minimum-zone] fitted

• Result of [intersection/combination/projection/...]

• Manually defined reference object

M E A S U R E M E N T S M E N UDialog: Reference object properties


2 6

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S I Z E S T A T U S

Status information about how the actual size of the reference object is determined. In most cases, the size of fitted reference objects depends on all its fit points, and the size of intersected/combined objects depends on their source objects. Other sizing methods can be forced by Measurements > Resize reference objects.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F I T S T A T U S

Status information about the last fitting process of the reference object:

• Valid: Successfully fitted to current calibrated materialLast fitting or refitting process succeeded without problems. Reference object is synchronized with current situation.

• Invalid: Not synchronized with current situation (calibration change?)The underlying data (voxel data, calibration material, polygon data) has changed since the last fitting process. You must trigger a manual refit to synchronize the reference object again.

• Invalid: Automatic refit failedLast refitting process (due to resolution adjustment or template import) failed, most likely because too few fit points could be adjusted to the new underlying surface. You might try to refit the object again manually.

• Valid: Isosurface not found for iteration >0, but previous result could be takenLast (iterative) refitting process (due to resolution adjustment or template import) did not succeed completely, but a valid result could still be taken from a previous iteration.

For derived reference objects, i.e. manipulation results, the status informa-tion has similar meanings, but it refers to the status of the source objects: if one of the source objects has a warning or error status, this status will be repeated for the derived object.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P O S I T I O N / R A D I U S / C O N I C I T Y / D I R E C T I O N / N O R M A L

Geometric parameters. Position always denotes the center of the object. Direction and normal vectors are normalized to unit length. For cones, the radius at the center position is given.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D E V I A T I O N S

Statistic measures of the fit point distribution. Peak/valley deviations denote the maximum positive/negative distances of any fit point to the ref-erence object’s surface. The form deviation equals the sum of peak and val-ley.Notes:

. . .

. .M E A S U R E M E N T S M E N UDialog: Reference object properties


• For circles, the deviation is the distance to the actual circle outline, not merely the circle’s plane.

• For lines that were initially specified in a 2D window, the 2D orientation at fitting time is stored and used to provide a “left of line / right of line” distinction for signed distances (like for all other reference object types except the point). If a line has no orientation information, all distances, will be positive (valley deviation zero per definition).

• The deviation signs are chosen such that positive deviations indicate points outside the calibrated material.

Fi t pointsShows a list of the fit points used to calculate the properties of the reference object. The list includes information such as the position, deviation and gray value for each point. The list can be sorted according to each property by selecting the property column. Points can be visualized individually or in groups by selecting them in the list.

Tips and tricks To show or hide all fit points, you can also select one or more reference object(s) in the Scene Tree. Then from the Scene Tree context menu choose either Show fitpoints or Hide fitpoints. Each fit point is color coded according to its distance from the fitted reference object.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R E M O V E A N D F I T

Deletes all currently selected fit points and then refit the reference object based on the remaining points. If the refit fails completely, the original state is restored.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A D D A N D F I T

Re-opens the fitting dialog for this object. All existing fit points are present, all auto-generation settings are turned off. Add additional points as desired and finish the fitting process to refit and replace the reference object.

HistogramShows the histogram plot of the fit point count against deviation. The col-oring is determined by the reference deviation in the Colors section.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B I N N I N G

In the Binning pull-down menu, you can choose between no binning and a binning according to the sections of the color bar.

M E A S U R E M E N T S M E N UDimensioning


2 6

CumulatedShows the accumulated percentile of fitpoints against their deviation. The accumulated statistics can be shown for fitpoints with either a positive or negative deviation or for all fitpoints as a function of their absolute numer-ical deviation by selecting the corresponding entry in the Cumulation box. By moving the green cross-hair in the diagram the percentage of points within a given deviation (or alternatively the max deviation for a given per-centage) can be obtained. The latter is also possible by directly typing in the values in the Deviation or Percentage dialogs.

Tips and tricks In contrast to the other properties sections, the Histogram and Cumulated graphs are also available when multiple reference objects are selected. They will then reflect the union of both sets of fit points.

ColorsSets the interval width and colors used in the histogram plot and for the color-coded visible fit points in 2D and 3D. By default the interval width is in units of the automatically determined standard deviation. This is the standard deviation of all selected reference objects or (if no objects are selected) all reference objects found in the scene.By unchecking the auto box a custom value can be specified. To change the color used for a specific interval range double click the corresponding color bar to launch the color selection tool.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dimensioning

Activate this mode to create coordinate measurement features based on existing reference objects. A feature is a single relevant parameter of either one reference object (like the x-coordinate of its position) or of a measure-ment between two reference objects (like the absolute distance between two reference points).

Tips and tricks VG Stud io MAX will enter Dimensioning mode automatically each time you select a feature in the Scene Tree.

When entering Dimensioning mode, the Measurement tools toolbar will appear. Use it to view and edit existing features or add new features. The contents of the toolbar depend on the current Scene Tree selection. If one or two reference objects are selected, VG Stud io MAX will automatically suggest a possible new feature based on those objects, and a highlighted preview of this suggestion becomes visible in the 2D and 3D views.

. . .

. .M E A S U R E M E N T S M E N UCM Reporting


Use the controls in the Measurement tools toolbar to change the current fea-ture’s properties. The controls are not labeled: they refer (from left to right) to the properties Relative, Snap, Type, Projection, View, Coordinate system, Depth, Source A, Source B and Swap. For information on these Feature prop-erties please refer to the section Feature list on page 26-15. Note that you cannot freely change the Source A/B settings here, because they determined from the reference objects currently selected in the Scene Tree. You may, however, use the Swap A and B button on the right to change the order of the two source objects. This order is relevant for some specialized dis-tance measurement methods.

The Abort button leaves Dimensioning mode, discarding currently sug-gested features, but retaining all features that are already installed in the scene. The Finish button also leaves Dimensioning mode, but in case a temporary feature is present, it is finalized and installed in the scene.

While in Dimensioning mode, you may also use the mouse inside a 2D view on visible features in order to move them or to create new features by drag-ging them out of the baseline of a suggested measurement: You can select one or two reference objects and then drag out the (yellow) suggested (dXYZ-) feature in the desired 2D orientation and direction to create a new projected (dX-, dY-, ...) feature.

Tips and tricks When selecting a feature in the Scene Tree, the feature’s source reference objects will be highlighted in the tree, too (they will have a colored box around their icon to the left).

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CM Reporting

Use the CM reporting dialog to view, edit and print detailed information about reference objects and features. The dialog will show reference objects and features connected to a single volume/polygon, which depends on the current Scene Tree selection. The name of the current volume/poly-gon is shown in the caption of the dialog.

Tips and tricks VG Stud io MAX will automatically show the CM reporting dialog when you double-click on any CM feature in the Scene Tree.

General remarksThe Features and Reference objects pages basically employ VG S tud io MAX ’s standard reporting table functionality:

M E A S U R E M E N T S M E N UCM Reporting


2 6

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . T A B L E S E L E C T I O N

Select one or more table rows by left-clicking while holding <Ctrl> or <Shift> or by using the up-down arrow-keys while holding <Shift>. Selecting rows will also select corresponding objects in the Scene Tree.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E D I T I N G

Double-click into text cells with white background to edit their contents (e.g. object name). Grayed-out cells are not editable.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S C R E E N S H O T S

Use the Screenshots section below the table to capture images from one of the 2D or 3D views for the currently selected item in the table. Only avail-able if exactly one row is selected.You can provide a description for every captured image by clicking the default <no description> text.Delete existing screenshots by pressing <Del>.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C O N T E X T M E N U

Right-click anywhere in the table to bring up the table’s context menu:

• Columns: Toggle the visibility of any available column

• Save as default column layout: Store column visibility and order on disk to remember them for the next time you restart VG S tud io MAX .

• Copy to clipboard: Copy the selected rows (and the table header texts) into the system’s clipboard. The clipboard information is provided both as plain text and a rich-text table, so when pasting into a rich-text-capable application like a wordprocessor, you will see a proper table with cells borders and bold headers.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C O L U M N - O R D E R

Left-click on any table header on top of each column while holding <Ctrl>. You can now move the column left or right to another place.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R O W - S O R T I N G

Left-click on any table header on top of each column to sort the entire table according to this column. Click again to reverse the sort order. The current sort order is indicated by an arrow inside the column header.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S P E C I A L C O L U M N S

In addition to text cells, some columns contain combo-boxes for selecting special options.

. . .



FeaturesList all existing reference objects and their properties here, and create new features as well.

As each feature is defined in a distinct coordinate system, lengths and posi-tions displayed in the table do not refer to the currently selected coordinate system, but to the coordinate system of the feature itself!

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C U R R E N T F E A T U R E ( S )

In addition to the tabular list of existing features, the properties of the cur-rent feature are also shown in the user controls above the table. You must use those controls to change the feature’s properties (except for the toler-ance settings and the feature name). The controls are not labeled: they refer (from left to right) to the properties Type, Projection, View, Coordinate system, Source A, Source B, Relative, Snap. See definition below for detailed explana-tion.

Tips and tricks When selecting the <new> row at the end of the feature list, you can define a new feature using the controls above. The <choose> texts inside the controls give hints as to which information is still missing. After entering the last missing information for the new feature, it will automatically be installed, and another new feature of the same type is prepared. This is convenient for creating multiple features consecutively.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F E A T U R E L I S T

• NameThe name of the feature. Column is editable.

• TypeThe type of the feature. Can be one of the following:

• DistanceDefault distance measuring method. The distance line between the center positions of the two reference objects is calculated.

• Distance (mid perpendicular)Reference object A is considered as finite, while reference object B is considered as infinitely extended. The mean between minimum and maximum distance (orthogonal to reference object A) between the two objects is determined.

• Distance (min perpendicular)Reference object A is considered as finite, while reference object B is considered as infinitely extended. The minimum distance (orthogonal to reference object A) between the two objects is determined.



2 6

• Distance (max perpendicular)Reference object A is considered as finite, while reference object B is considered as infinitely extended. The maximum distance (orthogonal to reference object A) between the two objects is determined.

• Distance (min finite)Both reference objects are considered as finite. The minimum distance between the two objects is determined.

• Distance (max finite)Both reference objects are considered as finite. The maximum distance between the two objects is determined.

• Distance (min infinite)Both reference objects are considered as infinitely extended. The minimum distance between the infinite objects is determined if they are not intersecting.

• Distance (min)Reference object A is considered as finite, while reference object B is considered as infinitely extended. The minimum distance (orthogonal to reference object B) between the two objects is determined.

• Distance (centroid)The distance between the geometrical center of all fit points used to fit reference object A and object B is determined. Please note that the geometrical center of an object is calculated with respect to the fit point coordinates only. It is not calculated as the geometrical center of the fitted reference object A or B.

• AngleAngle between two reference objects. Angles can be measured between line and line, line and plane or plane and plane.

• PositionDetermines the position of a single reference object in the current Coordinate system, that is its distance to the origin.

• RadiusRadius of a single reference object. Radii can be measured for circles, spheres, cylinders and cones. For spheres and cones, the position of the radius measurement, which is determined at creation time, is relevant. For circles, cylinders and cones, radius features are only well-defined if their coordinate system is aligned to the measured object’s axis/normal.

• DiameterDiameter of a single reference object. Equals twice the Radius.

. . .



• ProjectionAvailable for Distance, Position and Angle features. These can be projected along one or two spatial dimensions:

A dX (or dY or dZ) Distance/Position feature refers to the x (or y or z)-compo-nent of the measured distance-line only.A dXY (or dXZ or dYZ) Distance/Position feature refers to the distance-line projected onto the according plane.

If no projection is desired, use a dXYZ feature.

Angles cannot be projected onto a single axis. For Angle features, only dXY, dXZ, dYZ and dXYZ projections are available.

Projection directions are always referring to the axes of the feature’s Coordi-nate system.

• ViewDistance or position features with dX, dY or dZ Projection can exist in two possible orientations (a dX-feature can show up in a Top/Bottom (XY)-slice or a Front/Back (XZ)-slice). The View determines this orientation.

• Coordinate systemSpecifies the coordinate system in which the feature is defined.

• Source A / Source BThe reference object(s) used to define this feature. For position, radius and diameter features, only Source A is present. Distance and angle features have both source objects.

• RelativeAvailable and relevant for projected (non-dXYZ) distance features only. In relative mode, the feature does not visualize the measured distances directly, but rather visualizes the distances to the coordinate system origin for each endpoint.The Relative setting has no effect on the numerical value of the feature.

• DepthAvailable and relevant for projected (non-dXYZ) features only. The feature depth determines the position in which the projected feature is visualized in 3D. The feature’s orientation being determined by its Projection and View, there is still one degree of freedom when displaying it in a 3D view. When dragging a feature in a 2D view, the initial depth is determined from the slice position in which the feature was dragged out. The depth can later be changed freely.



2 6

• SnapAvailable and relevant for projected (non-dXYZ) distance features only. The snap fixes the feature’s Depth to either the start- or the end-point of the distance measurement (Begin/End), or retains the given depth (Free).

• ValueThe feature’s numerical value. For angle features, the value is displayed in the current angle unit, for all other types of features it is displayed in the current length unit.

• NominalThe desired nominal value for the feature. This cell is editable. Together with the Tolerance neg./pos. settings, VG Stud io MAX will determine whether the feature is inside the prescribed tolerance band and set the features status accordingly. If either nominal value or tolerances are not set, the tolerance test is omitted.

• Tolerance neg. / Tolerance pos.The allowed tolerance of the feature’s actual Value towards the given Nomi-nal value. This column is editable. After initially entering one of the neg./pos. tolerance values, the other value will be set to the same value, providing a symmetric tolerance band. Afterwards, you can change the positive and negative tolerances independently.

• StatusStatus information about the feature:

• OkNo errors or warnings. Feature and source objects are well defined.Tolerance band is present and feature lies within.

• Ok, but no tolerance settingsFeature and source objects are well defined, but no tolerance band is given. The feature value is not tested against any allowed range.

• Out of tolerance bandFeature and source objects are well defined, but the feature’s actual value lies outside the prescribed tolerance band.

• Invalid measurementAlthough the source objects are valid, measurement of the desired feature is not possible. This can happen in case of undefined measurement modes (such as a centroid-distance between objects without fit points).

• Invalid source object(s)The feature’s source objects indicate an error status.

. . .



• Inconsistent source object(s)Feature could be measured, but its source objects are indicate a warning status. Probably the source objects need to be refitted, or the last refit succeeded only partially.

• DetailsChoose On if you want a detailed 2D-image and feature description to be generated on a separate page of the report. VG Stud io MAX will automatically create a suitable slice image for the feature.

Note that the generated image will only contain the reported feature, its source reference objects and its parent volume/polygon. All other reference objects, features, analyses etc. will be hidden. The 2D slice position used for taking the image is determined by the feature’s position. The zoom fac-tor of the image is chosen such that the entire parent volume/polygon is vis-ible. For all features with a preferred orientation (namely all except dXYZ-positions and -distances), a single image in this orientation will be created. Otherwise an orthographic projection with three orthogonal views relative to the feature’s coordinate system is generated.

• ImagesThe number of images captured for this objects in the Screenshots section.

Reference objectsLists all existing reference objects and their properties.

Warning All geometric properties like positions and directions will be displayed and reported with respect to the currently selected coordinate system and the currently selected display unit.

For possible details on reference object properties refer to Dialog: Refer-ence object properties on page 26-9.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R E F E R E N C E O B J E C T L I S T

• NameThe name of the reference objects. This column is editable.

• TypeThe object’s type. Either point, line, circle, plane, sphere, cylinder, cone.

• Position X / Position Y / Position ZThe object’s position in physical length units.

• Direction X / Direction Y / Direction ZThe object’s normalized direction vector (available for line, cylinder, cone).



2 6

• Normal X / Normal Y / Normal ZThe object’s normalized normal vector (available for circle, plane).

• RadiusThe object’s radius (available for circle, sphere, cylinder, cone).

• ConicityThe object’s conicity in angle units (available for cone).

• Form / Peak / ValleyThe object’s fit point deviation measures (available for fitted reference objects only).

• Construction methodThe object’s construction method (see Properties on page 26-9).

• Detail viewChoose an option other than None if you want a detailed 2D-image and object description to be generated on a separate page of the report. The selected option determines the type of image VG Stud io MAX will automati-cally create for the object. Orthographic projection will produce three orthog-onal views, the Top, Bottom, Left, Right, Front, Back options each produce a single 2D view in the specified orientation.

The image orientation is relative to the currently selected coordinate sys-tem!

Note that the generated image will only contain the reported reference object and its parent volume/polygon. All other reference objects, features, analyses etc. will be hidden. The reference object is always shown without visible fit points and in a “highlighted” visual state. The 2D slice position used for taking the image is determined by the reference object’s position. The zoom factor of the image is chosen such that the entire parent vol-ume/polygon is visible.

• Detail zoom viewThe zoom view is almost identical to the Detail view, but will generate an image that is additionally zoomed in by a Zoom factor prescribed on the Report page.

• Histogram viewChoose whether to include the fit point histogram and/or the cumulated his-togram in the reporting details for this reference object (available for fitted reference objects only).

• ImagesThe number of images captured for this objects in the Screenshots section.

. . .



Capture imagesThe Capture images tab allows to take screenshots from the selected work-space widget. The captured images are listed separately within the final report apart from screenshots created in the Features or Reference objects section.

ReportThe Report page lets you specify the content and layout of the final report.

Use the Print button to show the Print preview dialog. There, use the Previous page and Next page buttons to navigate through the report preview. Click the Layout button to bring up the Print layout dialog. There you can specify the orientation (Portrait or Landscape), the paper size and the desired output resolution.

Use the Save button to save the report to disk in the desired format:

• Rich Text Format: Save the entire report with tables and images as an .rtf-document.

• HTML Format: Save the entire report with tables and images as an .html-document.

• Comma Separated Values: Save only the table(s) without images and further formatting as a .csv-file.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R E P O R T S E C T I O N S

Choose whether the report should contain the list of Features and/or Refer-ence objects.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D E T A I L I M A G E S S E T T I N G S

Use these settings to change the appearance of the detail images you speci-fied in the Features and/or Reference objects tables. Zoom factor sets the zoom level for all Detail zoom view images in the respective tables. By enabling the Manual check box you can change Color mode and or the Background color of the various workspace widget screenshots created within the analysis.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L O G O

Specify an image file that should be utilized as a logo within the report.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C E L L S

Each report page will contain a set of user defined cells. These cells are part of the report layout and their content is customizable. Simply click on a cell and select an attribute from the pull down. Either assign the attribute

M E A S U R E M E N T S M E N UAdjust resolution


2 6

to the Cell title or to the Cell content. The Cell title is a textual description of the cell content. The Cell content defines what shall be displayed within the cell. You can append attributes to previous attributes by clicking the assign button again.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adjust resolution

With this feature it is possible to adjust the voxel resolutions of a volumet-ric object.This may be necessary to compensate for resolution drift in the CT scanner and is highly recommended when performing high-precision measurements. In this case the part should be scanned together with a well-calibrated reference object which is used as the basis for the resolution adjustment (see below; see Calibrate in chapter Object menu on page 5-2 for details on calibration).

To adjust the resolution a number of known dimensional features are selected. For each of these features the current dimensions are calculated and a nominal value is specified by the user. Based on these values the voxel dimensions are recalculated to fit the nominal measures. After this, the reference objects are refitted and the new values for the dimensional features are calculated.

Target volumeSelects the volumetric object whose resolution is to be adjusted.

As mentioned above the reference objects and measured features are refit-ted after a resolution adjustment. Thus the actual measurement of a mea-surement feature may not exactly match the specified nominal value. By enabling Iterative Adjustment the resolution adjustment and refitting proce-dure can be automatically repeated. This is done until all measurement fea-tures used in the adjustment process are within a given tolerance or until a maximum number of repetitions has been reached, which ever comes first.

I terate a t mostSpecifies the maximum number of times the resolution adjustment and refitting process is to be performed.

Measures d i f fer lessSpecifies the desired tolerance between the nominal features and the re-adjusted voxel resolution.

The Mapping List shows all the measurement features used in the adjustment of the voxel resolution. This includes their measurement value based on the current voxel resolution, the specified nominal value and the voxel relative axial direction(s) adjusted by each measurement feature. A feature can be

. . .

. .M E A S U R E M E N T S M E N UResize reference objects


deleted from the list by selecting it and pressing either the delete key or the Delete mapping button. A new feature can be added by selecting the New mapping entry in the list or by pressing the New mapping button. To edit a feature highlight it in the list and change the values in the Mapping details section.

Use the Mapping Details section to specify how a measurement feature is to be used in the readjustment of the voxel dimensions.

FeatureSelects the measurement feature to be used when adjusting the voxel dimensions.

Actual lengthThis field shows the actual length/measurement of the selected feature as calculated using the current voxel dimensions.

Nominal lengthSpecifies the nominal length/measurement of the selected feature, i.e. the desired length the feature should have after adjustment of the voxel dimen-sions.

Relevant axisSpecifies which of the three voxel dimensions are to be adjusted using the current mapping.

New mappingCreates a new mapping. A new mapping can also be created by selecting the new mapping entry in the Mapping list and then specifying the Mapping details.

Delete mappingDeletes the selected mapping. A selected mapping can also be deleted by pressing the delete key.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Resize reference objects

Changes the visualized size of existing reference objects. The length of a line-like reference object or the extent of a reference plane is usually deter-mined automatically, either by the range of the given fit points or the sizes of its source objects (for derived reference objects). Most measurements and all manipulation operations do not consider this finite size; it is merely used for visualization. Still, you can alter the size with the Resize reference objects functionality.

M E A S U R E M E N T S M E N UResize reference objects


2 6

Source objectSelect one of the reference objects available for the volume/polygon cur-rently selected in the Scene Tree. This is the reference object you are going to resize.

Note that resizing does only make sense for reference objects of type line, plane, cylinder and cone. Other types do not have a degree of freedom con-cerning their visible sizes.

Act ionSpecify how to determine the source object’s new size.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R E S I Z E T O R E S U L T I N G F I T P O I N T S

Sets the source object’s size to enclose all of the object’s fit points.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R E S I Z E T O O R I G I N A L F I T P O I N T S

Sets the source object’s size to enclose the fit points that were originally provided at fitting time, i.e. those positions you had explicitly clicked in 2D or 3D when creating the object.

Tips and tricks This option can be used to prevent small size overlaps when fitting an object with the Auto expand option, which produces new points slightly outside the area of your original fit points.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R E S I Z E T O V I S I B L E F I T P O I N T S

Sets the source object’s size to enclose only fit points that are currently shown. This allows you to specify an arbitrary subset of points for resizing, using the fit point list in the Reference object properties dialog.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E N L A R G E B Y R E F E R E N C E O B J E C T

Ensures that the source object “covers” the given reference. The source object will never be made smaller, only larger if necessary. The “coverage” is defined by projecting important points of the reference (center position, line endpoints or plane borders) onto the line or plane of the source object. The source’s line or plane extent is then enlarged to cover all projected ref-erence positions.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R E S I Z E B Y R E F E R E N C E O B J E C T ( S )

Similar to the Enlarge by reference object option, but instead of only enlarg-ing the source as needed and never shrinking it, this option actually deter-mines the exact size needed to cover all given references.This implies that you cannot resize by a single reference point, as the

. . .

. .M E A S U R E M E N T S M E N UReference object manipulation


resulting size would be zero. You will need at least two points or a higher order reference for resizing.

StatusTextual information about the validity of the current resize settings:

• OkSource object and resize action valid.

• No objects selectedNo valid source reference object is selected.

• Invalid number of objects selectedYou missed to select a reference in the Enlarge by reference object or Resize by reference object(s) mode.

• Invalid number of fit pointsResizing to fit points not possible because there are no suitable fit points. This may happen when trying to resize a derived or manually created reference object (which has no fit points).

• Singular resultResizing failed because a zero-length size was determined. This may happen when trying to resize to a single fit point or a single reference point.

• Unsupported operationResizing not possible with this kind of reference object(s). For instance, you cannot resize a point object.

AcceptPress to apply size changes to the source object. This will not produce a copy of the object, but will in fact modify the source object itself.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reference object manipulation

Use the actions in the manipulation submenu to create new dependent ref-erence objects based on one, two, or more source reference objects. Before you can activate a manipulation action, you must select the proper source objects in the Scene Tree. The action will become enabled as soon as it can successfully operate on the selected objects.

After choosing the desired manipulation action, you will immediately see a highlighted preview of the resulting reference object in the 2D and 3D views. Additionally, a temporary toolbar will show up with an Accept/Close button-pair and possible further manipulation options. Press the Accept but-

M E A S U R E M E N T S M E N UReference object manipulation


2 6

ton to install the manipulation result in the scene, or press Close to cancel the operation.

Note that manipulation results are dynamic: if the involved source objects (and possibly involved coordinate systems) change at some later time, the manipulation result will change as well!

Tips and tricks When selecting a dependent reference object Scene Tree, its source objects will be highlighted in the tree, too (they will have a colored box around their icon to the left).

In tersectUse this action to calculate the intersection of two or three reference objects. This is only possible for the following combinations:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P L A N E - P L A N E

The intersection of two (non-parallel) planes is a line. Its finite length will be determined by the actual sizes of the two source planes.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P L A N E - P L A N E - P L A N E

The intersection of three (non-parallel) planes is a point.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C I R C L E - P L A N E

The intersection of a circle and a plane is a line. Here, the circle is in fact regarded as a circular disk.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L I N E - L I N E

The intersection of two lines is a point.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L I N E - P L A N E

The intersection of a line and a plane is a point.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C Y L I N D E R - P L A N E

The intersection of a cylinder and a plane is either a point (regarding the cylinder as a line) or a circle (for nearly-perpendicular constellations). Choose between the two options in the manipulation toolbar. If a circular intersection is desired, the two objects must be perpendicular within the given Angular tolerance (absolute angle) or Relative tolerance. The latter denotes the maximum allowed relative difference of major to minor axis in the ellipse which would describe the intersection exactly.

. . .

. .M E A S U R E M E N T S M E N UReference object manipulation


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C O N E - P L A N E

The intersection of a cylinder and a plane is either a point (regarding the cylinder as a line) or a circle (for nearly-perpendicular constellations). The distinction is the same as in the “Cylinder - Plane” case.

CombineUse this action to combine two or more reference objects into a single result object. This is only possible for the following combinations:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P O I N T - P O I N T

Results in a line connecting the two points.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L I N E - P O I N T

Results in a plane lying on both source objects.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M O R E T H A N T W O P O I N T S

More than two points can either be combined to form a least-squares fitted Plane or Circle. Choose between the two options in the manipulation tool-bar.

Note that you can combine other types of reference objects as well, e.g. if combining two spheres, they will be considered as “point-like” objects and the “Point-Point” combination is available, combining them into a line con-necting the spheres’ centers.

Project ionUse this action to project one reference object onto another. This is only defined for certain combinations:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P O I N T - L I N E

Orthogonal projection of the point onto the line.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P O I N T - P L A N E

Orthogonal projection of the point onto the plane.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L I N E - P L A N E

Orthogonal projection of the line onto the plane.

Symmetry-objectUse this action to “interpolate” between two reference objects of the same type. Symmetry-objects can be created between points, lines and planes (or equivalent substitutes).

M E A S U R E M E N T S M E N UReference object actions


2 6

A point-point symmetry object lies somewhere on the line defined by the two source points. The exact position is determined by the options in the manipulation toolbar: You must specify an Offset, which is either a Relative offset (in percent) or an Absolute offset (in length units). The starting point can be switched in the box on the right. Thus, a relative offset of 0.0 results in the starting point, a relative offset of 1.0 results in the end point, and rel-ative offsets between 0.0 and 1.0 result in a point somewhere between the source points. Offsets outside this range are allowed and well-defined as well, and result in points outside the two source points. Absolute offsets work similarly.

The line-line and plane-plane symmetry objects are basically derived by performing the symmetry operation on their relevant end-/edge-points. The options are identical.

Transformat ionUse this action to apply a rotational and translational transformation to a single existing source reference object. The transformation takes place rel-ative to the coordinate system chosen in the manipulation toolbar. Enter the translation in length units and the rotation along each axis in angle units.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reference object actions

This sub-menu contains miscellaneous actions to be used on existing refer-ence objects. Availability and affected objects depend on the currently selected objects in the Scene Tree.

Show/hide f i tpointsThese actions show/hide all fit points for all currently selected reference objects. Shown fit points are displayed in all 2D and 3D views using a color-coding scheme.

Save f i tpoint in format ionSaves a CSV-file containing information about the fit points of all selected reference objects. The information includes the point position in the cur-rently selected coordinate system, the fit point deviation, and additionally the reference object’s normal orientation at the fit point position. You can select multiple reference objects to save their combined fit point informa-tion in a single file.

New ROI f rom reference objectOnly available for sphere, cylinder and cone reference objects. Creates a new Region of Interest for the reference object’s volume/polygon that rep-resents the covered volume of the selected reference object.

. . .

. .M E A S U R E M E N T S M E N UExport measurement template


Ref i t re ference object (s )Trigger a refit for the selected reference object(s). If an entire volume/poly-gon is selected, all reference objects below are refitted. Refitting reference objects manually is necessary if, for instance, the parent volume has been re-calibrated. To check whether a reference object needs refitting, inspect its Status (see Dialog: Reference object properties on page 26-9). The sta-tus is also indicated by a warning icon left to the object’s name in the Scene Tree.

Refitting all reference objects can take some time, and the refitting might fail or produce warnings for some of the refitted objects. This will be reflected by their Status afterwards.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Export measurement template

Reference objects and associated features can be used as a template: they can be saved to disk and later be imported and applied to a volume or poly-gon object similar to the one on which they were defined.

Tips and tricks It is also possible to directly copy a set of reference objects and measurements from one object to another within the Scene Tree using copy/cut and paste. This is equivalent to exporting and re-importing a measurement template.

Export measurement template saves the selected reference objects and fea-tures to disk as a template in a .vgt file. If an entire volume/polygon object is selected in the Scene Tree, all reference objects and features below will be part of the template. If the Scene Tree selection contains only a subset of reference objects and features, the template will contain all elements needed to define those objects. The number of saved elements may be larger than the number of selected objects: for instance, if you export a ref-erence object that is defined as the intersection of two source objects, these source objects will be saved as well, so the intersection result can be fully defined.

Warning When you export a measurement template, all of the template's elements will be stored with respect to the Scene coordinate system. If you do a proper object registration before exporting / importing a template, the elements will be imported to the expected registered positions. However, if you are working with an unregistered object, you must ensure the object's correct position in the scene. Moving or rotating the object will change the positions of the exported / imported reference objects!

M E A S U R E M E N T S M E N UImport measurement template


2 6

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Import measurement template

Loads a measurement template from disk and applies it to the selected vol-ume/polygon object. After selecting the template file, its content will be read and the CM template transformation dialog will open up. This dialog allows you to apply an additional rotation and translation to all the template objects before they are actually inserted and refitted. In the 2D and 3D views, you will see a highlighted preview of all reference objects from the template. Move them to the desired position and press Ok to finalize the template import.

Imported reference objects will then be refitted (according to the refitting parameters specified for each reference object at its initial creation time). Dependent reference objects and features will automatically reflect the new situation. Coordinate systems that are implicitly contained in the template will be added to the list of available coordinate systems, too.

In case the refitting procedure fails completely or partly for any reference object, you will see warnings in the progress dialog details accordingly. These warnings and errors will also be permanently remembered in each reference object’s Fit status.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Coordinate system editor

Inspect, create and edit coordinate systems.

Avai lable Coordinate SystemsLists all coordinate systems that are currently present in the scene. The icon in front of each system’s name indicates its status. For further details on the status messages, refer to General on page 26-32.

• Tripod Valid coordinate system

• Warning sign Detached coordinate system (source objects no longer present) ORConditions changed, re-calculation necessary

• Error cross Invalid coordinate system

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B U I L T - I N C O O R D I N A T E S Y S T E M S

There are a number of fixed, built-in coordinate systems corresponding to each main object (volume, polygon, object group) in the scene. Those coor-dinate systems can neither be changed nor removed. For volume objects, two coordinate systems are available. One (say Volume 1 coordinate system) to view the object as a contiguous physical volume, measuring coordinates

. . .

. .M E A S U R E M E N T S M E N UCoordinate system editor


in physical lengths and ignoring the actual underlying grid structure; the other (Grid of Volume 1 coordinate system) to respect to the grid structure, to be used for voxel-slice-wise 2D navigation and display of voxel-index coordinates instead of physical positions.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C U S T O M C O O R D I N A T E S Y S T E M S

In addition to the built-in systems, you can define, modify or remove cus-tom coordinate systems at will.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . T E M P O R A R Y C O O R D I N A T E S Y S T E M

Some actions, used to quickly create coordinate systems outside this editor, will produce a temporary coordinate system (e.g. the Align slices to object command in the Scene Tree’s context menu). This is a system that is not permanently installed, but will exist only as long as no other coordinate system is made active, or any other new temporary system is created. The current temporary system, if any, will be listed at the very beginning of the Available coordinate systems list. Use the Install command (see below) to make it permanent if desired.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C R E A T E

Start the creation of a new custom coordinate system. After pressing the button, a preliminary <new coordinate system> entry will be added in the Available coordinate systems list, and you can now supply all needed parame-ters of the new system on the right hand side of the dialog. To finally install the new system, press the Apply button. Changing the selection in the Avail-able coordinate systems list or closing the dialog before applying the changes will discard the new system.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R E N A M E

Change the name of the currently selected coordinate system.Renaming is only possible for Manual systems and Registration systems. All other coordinate systems have a name that is dynamically linked to the name of the object they refer to. Thus, a built-in Volume 1 coordinate system or an Alignment to Plane 1 system’s name depends on the volume’s / refer-ence object’s name and cannot be changed directly.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D E L E T E

Completely removes the selected coordinate system. Explicit deletion is not possible for valid built-in systems. Those systems are removed auto-matically if the corresponding object is removed from the scene.

M E A S U R E M E N T S M E N UCoordinate system editor


2 6

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C O P Y

Create a new coordinate system, using the settings of the currently selected system as a source. Copying is only available for custom systems. After issuing the copy command, proceed as when creating a new system.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I N S T A L L

If a special temporary coordinate systems exists and is selected in the Avail-able coordinate systems list, the Copy button changes to offer the Install com-mand instead. Use it to permanently install the temporary system, which would otherwise be discarded as soon as any other system is made active, or a new temporary system is created.

Proper t iesDisplays details for the currently selected coordinate system. Settings can be changed for custom systems. Built-in system properties are read-only.

The Settings tab has varying contents, depending on the type of the selected system.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G E N E R A L

Common properties for all types of coordinate systems.

• TypeThe basic type of the selected coordinate system. Built-in systems are either of type Built-in object system or Built-in grid system and cannot be changed. A custom system’s type can be:

• Alignment system: Dynamic alignment to an existing reference object

• Manual system: Explicit specification of rotation and translation

• Registration system: Use object-to-object registration logic to describe a transformation

• StatusValid coordinate system: The system is well-defined and synchronized with the current situation.

Invalid coordinate system:The system is in an undefined state and cannot be used. This might happen if the system depends on source objects that are themselves undefined (e.g. constructed reference objects).

Detached coordinate system (source objects no longer present): The system is still ok and usable, but the object(s) it depended have been

. . .

. .M E A S U R E M E N T S M E N UCoordinate system editor


removed from the scene. Dynamically changing systems like Built-in sys-tems or Alignment systems that become detached will become static, retain-ing the state just before their source objects disappeared.

Conditions changed, re-calculation necessary: The system is still ok and usable, but not synchronized with the current sit-uation. You must trigger a manual update to calculate the new values. This status does only occur for Registration systems, which may depend on many source parameters and take considerable time to re-calculate. All other types of systems are either static or will adjust themselves automati-cally.

• Resulting world-transformationDisplays the rotational and translational components of the transformation from the selected coordinate system to the scene.

• Relative transformationDisplays the rotational and translational components of the transformation from the selected coordinate system to some other coordinate system. Choose the desired system from the Reference list.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S E T T I N G S ( A L I G N M E N T )

An alignment coordinate system depends on exactly one source object. Only reference objects can be used as alignment sources. The Aligned object list offers all reference objects currently installed anywhere in the scene.

Warning Alignment to a single reference object leaves certain degrees of freedom for the exact definition of the coordinate system. When aligning to a cylinder, the rotational degree of freedom is resolved by VG Studio MAX internally by choosing a default orientation. Additionally, the alignment logic will choose an axis permutation and mirror that matches the main axes of the reference object’s parent volume as good as possible. This means that an alignment to a cylinder does not necessarily map the system’s positive z-axis along the cylinder axis, but could also choose the x- or y-axis in case the cylinder is mainly oriented in this direction relative to its parent volume.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S E T T I N G S ( M A N U A L )

A manual coordinate system is defined relative to the given Object, which can be any of the available volume/polygon/group objects currently present in the scene. Additionally, specify explicit rotation and translation compo-nents relative to this object in the Post-transformation input fields.

M E A S U R E M E N T S M E N UShow coordinate system origin


2 6

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S E T T I N G S ( R E G I S T R A T I O N )

For a Registration system, the Coordinate system editor offers the same func-tionality and interface as the common registration wizard, see Register Object... in chapter Object menu on page 5-5. Define any desired object-registration as described there, and the Registration system will be defined using the relative transformation that maps the object to the specified regis-tered position and orientation.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R E S E T

If changes have been made to the settings of the currently selected system, press Reset to revert these changes and return to the stored state of the sys-tem.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A P P L Y

If changes have been made to the settings of the currently selected system, press Apply to finally accept these new settings. This command will only be available if changes have been made and the current settings are complete and valid.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Show coordinate system origin

Use this action to toggle the visibility of the special symbol shown in all 2D views to indicate the origin of the currently selected coordinate system.


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .NOMINAL/ACTUAL COMPARISON MODULE 27

he nominal/actual comparison tool is designed to compare voxel data sets with CAD polygonal models or voxel data sets with voxel data sets. As a result of such an analysis the user will get a

detailed report about the detected deviations and a false color coded data set for documentation purposes.

Nominal/actual comparison is an optional add-on module for VG Studio MAX and requires additional licensing.

You can open this tool via the entry in the Analysis menu or by clicking the button in the icon bar.

Warning A full-scale nominal/actual comparison will need enough free system memory to store an 8-bit result data set with the dimensions of the actual volume. In case of insufficient memory, try increasing the Skip X/Y/Z analysis parameters (see Calculation parameters on page 27-2).

The nominal/actual comparison dialog consists of several pages in which you can modify analysis parameters or inspect the nominal/actual analysis result. Each page shares in its display a Calculate button which executes the analysis and a Close button which closes the dialog without performing an analysis. A status bar at the bottom of each page signals the current status of the analysis. The status can either be

• ready to go

Everything needed for the analysis is available.

• analysis is up to date

The current analysis result is valid and does not need any recalculation.

• analysis update required

Some user action led to an invalidation of the current analysis result. The analysis has to be recalculated.

• object is not calibrated

No calibration information is available for actual object. There must be a valid calibrated surface to perform a nominal/actual comparison (see Cali-brate in chapter Object menu on page 5-2).

• no valid reference object

T

N O M I N A L / A C T U A L C O M P A R I S O N M O D U L ESettings


2 7

The nominal object is either missing or (if it is a volume data set) not prop-erly calibrated.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sett ings

Preset Select ionSelect or remove a user defined preset from the preset selection pull down. Any parameter set applied within the Settings page can be saved as a user defined preset. Presets can be deleted, exported or imported via the respec-tive buttons.

Calculat ion parametersIn the Nominal/Reference object pull-down menu select the nominal object against which the actual object will be compared.

The surface of the nominal object can be either above or below the surface of the actual object within a certain distance. Specify the Max. distance to determine how far away from one surface the other will be sought. Dis-tances exceeding the specified Max. distance value will be marked as unde-fined.

The Skip X, Skip Y and Skip Z parameters can be used to skip voxels and thus reduce the time to perform the analysis at the cost of lower accuracy.

OptionsIf the surface of the nominal object is below the surface of the actual object the variance between the two surfaces is positive. If the surface of the nom-inal object is above the surface of the actual object the variance is negative. If both surfaces match there is zero variance. By enabling the swap distance signs option, you invert the variance value. The variance must be between +/- Max. distance. Variances above or below +/- Max. distance are marked as undefined which is represented through the special values +/- inf.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Colors

Here you can specify a color coding scheme used for the representation of the analysis result mask.

LUTGives you a preview of how the color lookup table is partitioned into color sections.

. . .

. .N O M I N A L / A C T U A L C O M P A R I S O N M O D U L EColors


Sect ionsIn the Sections element the appearance of each color section is defined. Cre-ate smooth will generate one color section. Clicking the button will show the Create smooth table dialog. Define the variance range by entering from and to values.

Create stepped generates a set of color sections. Clicking the button will show the Create stepped table dialog. Define the variance range by entering from, to and step values.

Clicking Auto scale fits the LUT to the range of analysis results.

There are two special color sections defining the color value for variances above and below the specified Max. Distance. The variances above the posi-tive Max. Thickness are marked as +inf, the variances below the negative Max. Thickness are marked as -inf.

Each generated color section can be modified individually. In the Sections table simply click onto an entry to modify its value. From and To define the start and end values of the color sections. Type switches between the color-ing schemes Constant, Gradient, Rainbow and Reverse Rainbow. Detail lets you modify the appearance of the selected Type color scheme. Right-clicking onto a color section shows a context menu with the options split and merge. Splitting a color section divides it up into two new color sections where each represents half of the original section. Merging several color sections results into a single color section. Only consecutive intervals can be merged.

OptionsVariance values outside the specified Max. Distance value (see Calculation parameters on page 27-2) are coded with specific color values. Select the Yes option from the Clamp outside distances pull down to map the color of these variances to the one specified in the Clamp colors section on the Colors page.

Tips and tricks Use this option if you have several nominal/actual analyses with different Max. Thickness values. In this case, every analysis shares a common LUT, whose +/- inf values are specified by the analysis with the largest Max.

Thickness. This might obscure the variance values of analyses with smaller Max. Thickness values.

By choosing Yes or No for Show 3D result overlay or Show 2D result overlay you determine whether the color coded result is visible in the 3D and 2D views respectively. If the comparison has been performed, switching these settings will be of immediate effect in the views.

N O M I N A L / A C T U A L C O M P A R I S O N M O D U L EHistogram


2 7

Clamp colorsSelect a color for the clamped variance values by clicking on the Negative and/or Positive labeled color chooser (see Options on page 27-3).

Tickmarks on color barIf Auto tickmarks is enabled, equidistant tick marks are produced for the color bars. If Auto tickmarks is disabled, tick marks appear only at the color section boundaries.

Preset se lect ionHere you can load, save, delete, import and export LUT presets.

When saving a LUT, you can choose if you want to save an Absolute Preset, i.e. a preset that maps colors to absolute variance. If the checkbox is not activated, colors are saved relative to the range of the analysis.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Histogram

This tab shows a histogram of the calculated deviations over the entire ana-lyzed surface of the actual object. The histogram bars are colored accord-ing to the current Colors settings.

TypeHistograms of the Type: Point count are based upon a finite number of tested positions on the actual object’s surface. If you switch to Type: Surface, the histogram is calculated with regard to the physical surface covered by each test position. The label of the y-axis will adjust accordingly. This switch is significant for strongly anisotropic data sets where the mapping of probed positions to their covered surface is recommended.

BinningIn the Binning pull-down menu, you can choose between no binning and a binning according to the sections of the color bar.

Context menuRight-click the histogram area to bring up a context menu offering the fol-lowing options:

• Copy to clipboardCopies a screenshot of the histogram to the system clipboard.

• Show grid lines X/YToggles the display of dashed indicator lines for the respective axis.

. . .

. .N O M I N A L / A C T U A L C O M P A R I S O N M O D U L ECumulated


• Reset zoomZooms the entire histogram to the current window size.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cumulated

This tab displays the cumulated percentage relative of deviations. It is derived from the Histogram data. You can use the Cumulated curve to answers questions like “How many percent of the analyzed surface differ less than x mm from the nominal value?” or, conversely, “What is the smallest deviation that ninety percent of the analyzed surface do not exceed?“.

TypeThe Type pull-down menu is the same as in Histogram tab. See Histogram on page 27-4 for more details.

Cumulat ionCumulation does not make sense for mixed positive and negative devia-tions. Thus, you can choose either a Cumulation of Absolute deviations, or restrict the cumulation to Only positive or Only negative deviations. The label of the x-axis will adjust accordingly.

Deviat ion / PercentageThe Deviation and Percentage controls show the cumulated percentage value below a certain deviation. They are synchronized with the green indicator lines in the graphical view. You can enter a desired reference deviation or percentage in the controls or drag the indicator lines with the mouse to change the current position.

Context menuRight-click within the graph to bring up a context menu offering the fol-lowing options:

• Copy to clipboardCopies a screenshot of the graph to the system clipboard.

• Show grid lines X/YToggles the display of dashed indicator lines for the respective axis.

• Reset zoomZooms the entire histogram to the current window size.

N O M I N A L / A C T U A L C O M P A R I S O N M O D U L EGeneral table features


2 7

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . General table features

Right click anywhere into the Annotations table to show its context menu. The menu contains the following options:

• ColumnsHere you toggle the visibility status of each column by enabling / disabling the respective checkbox.

• Save as default column layoutAny modifications applied to the table e.g. changing the sorting order of a column, enabling / disabling of columns or changing the order in which each column appears can be saved as default column layout. This layout will be active until you selected Original column layout.

• Original column layoutRestores the original table layout and discards any modifications applied by the user.

• Copy to clipboardCopies the table into the clipboard.

• Export as CSV ...Exports the table values as CSV (Comma Separated Values) list.

• Remove entriesRemoves a complete row from the table

To change the order in which each column appears in the table press <Ctrl> and left click the desired column header. Keep the <Ctrl> key pressed and drag the mouse over the available column headers until the new position is reached. Release the mouse button to insert the column at its new position.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Annotations

The Annotations table lists every annotation created for the selected analy-sis. Here you can see or edit information about the annotations.

The Annotations table lists every annotation created for the selected nomi-nal/actual analysis. Here you can inspect information supplied by the anno-tations or edit annotations properties.

To create an annotation select the desired nominal/actual analysis within the Scene Tree and click the right mouse button to show the analysis con-text menu. Select New > Analysis annotation and click into any 2D window or the 3D window to position the annotation.

. . .

. .N O M I N A L / A C T U A L C O M P A R I S O N M O D U L EAnnotations


The annotation is designed as a movable label displaying informations about the current analysis. A nominal/actual annotation contains the anno-tation name, the current Variance (Var), the tolerance values specified via Tolerance from and Tolerance to and the position of the annotation.

The Variance value is color coded. The green color signalizes an available Variance value for the current position and the current tolerance values. The yellow color signalizes that for the current annotation position there is no Variance value available. This happens if the annotation is moved outside the nominal/actual result area.The red color signalizes that the Variance value at the current annotation position is not inside the specified tolerance interval.

To minimize/maximize the annotation double-click anywhere inside the annotation.

Furthermore, you can arrange all annotations automatically by right-click-ing within the respective window and choosing Annotations > Arrange.

The individual columns within the nominal/actual‘s Annotations table are:

• Name

The name of the annotation.

• in Comparison

The name of the Nominal/Actual comparison the annotation belongs to.

• Pos (X, Y, Z)

Position of the annotation.

• Variance

The nominal/actual variance of the analyzed voxel set at the given annota-tion position.

• Tolerance from/to

The maximum nominal/actual deviation for the respective annotation.• Description

Enter a description of the annotation used for reporting.

• Detail view

Select a view mode for reporting. Either choose one of the six view direc-tions (top, bottom, front, back, right or left) or choose orthographic projection.

• Detail zoom view

Select a zoomed Detail view for reporting.

• Images

Displays the amount of images generated with the Capture from function. Below the Annotations table is an area reserved for screenshots. To capture

N O M I N A L / A C T U A L C O M P A R I S O N M O D U L ECapture images


2 7

a screenshot first select a view from the pull down, then click the Capture from button. Each screenshot will be displayed in the area above. The screenshots can be chosen to appear in the final report. You can specify a name for the image by clicking the <no description> label twice.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Capture images

The Capture images page allows to take screenshots from the selected workspace widget. The captured images are listed separately within the final report apart from screenshots created in the Annotations section.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Report

The Report page lets you specify the content and the layout of the final report. Either save the report as .rtf (Rich Text Format) or .html document by clicking the Save button, or print it by clicking the Print button. The Print button will show you a Print preview dialog. Use the Previous page and Next page button to navigate through the report preview. Click the Layout button to bring up the Print layout dialog. There you specify the orientation (Portrait or Landscape), the paper size and the resolution.

Report sect ionsSelect which sections of the analysis should be included or excluded from the report be either enabling or disabling the corresponding checkboxes Settings, Annotations, Deviation histogram or Cumulated histogram.

Detai l images set t ingsUse these settings to change the appearance of the detail images you speci-fied in the Annotations table. Zoom factor sets the zoom level for the Detail zoom view images in the respective tables. By enabling the Manual check box you can change Color mode and or the Background color of the various workspace widget screenshots created within the analysis.

LogoSpecify an image file that should be utilized as a logo within the report.

Cel lsEach report page will contain a set of user defined cells. These cells are part of the report layout and their content is customizable. Simply click on a cell and select an attribute from the pull down. Either assign the attribute to the Cell title or to the Cell content. The Cell title is a textual description of the cell content. The Cell content defines what shall be displayed within the

. . .

. .N O M I N A L / A C T U A L C O M P A R I S O N M O D U L EReport


cell. You can append attributes to previous attributes by clicking the assign button again.

N O M I N A L / A C T U A L C O M P A R I S O N M O D U L EReport


2 7


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .DEFECT DETECTION MODULE 28

he Defect Detection tool is designed to process voxel data sets for internal defects and provides detailed analysis results with informa-tion on each individual defect as well as overall statistical informa-

tion. A defect analysis report will be generated, containing information like position, size, surface and volume of each individual defect.

Defect detection is an optional add-on module for VG Stud io MAX and requires additional licensing.


The defect detection dialog consists of several pages in which you can modify analysis parameters or inspect the defect detection analysis result. All pages share two buttons, Calculate and Close.

• CalculateTriggers execution of the analysis. This button is deactivated if invalid parameters are specified or if an analysis has been performed and the parameters have not changed in the meantime.

• Add color coding / Remove color codingToggles the color coding of the defects. See below for details on color cod-ing (Process on page 28-8). This button is only available after an analysis has been performed.

• CloseExits the dialog without performing an analysis. Parameter settings will be saved. Reopen the analysis by double-clicking its entry in the Scene Tree.

A status bar at the bottom of each page signals the current status of the analysis. The status can be one of the following:

• ready to goParameters are specified and consistent; click Calculate to start the analysis.

• analysis is up to dateThe current analysis result is valid and does not need any recalculation.

• analysis update requiredSome user action led to an invalidation of the current analysis result. Click Calculate to rerun the analysis.

T

D E F E C T D E T E C T I O N M O D U L ESettings


2 8

• invalid parameter

At least one of the parameters has an invalid value. Check the parameters or click Close.

Tips and tricks An invalid or not up-to-date status of an analysis is accentuated in the Scene Tree with a warning sign. Double-click this analysis to open it and check the status bar for messages.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sett ings

Preset Select ionSelect or remove a user defined preset from the preset selection pull down. Any parameter set applied within the Settings page can be saved as a user defined preset. Presets can be deleted, exported or imported via the respec-tive buttons.

Algor i thmSelect an algorithm from the pull down which the defect detection should use for the analysis. Based on the selected algorithm the Calibration parame-ters will differ.

The defect detection procedure consists of two steps.

• Check each voxel if it might be part of a defect or not. Create groups of connected defect candidates.

• Check each group of defect candidates if it fits the parameters specified by the user.

The following algorithms are available:

• Only thresholdEvery group of candidate defects matching the size specifications is con-sidered a defect if the gray value is below the specified threshold.

• DefaultTo allow for gray value variations, a more sophisticated approach is used, thus also detecting defects, e.g., in dark areas.

• EnhancedThis is a variation of the Default algorithm in a more fine-grained mode, thus providing more sophisticated results but requiring more time.

• Custom defect maskThe defect analysis is based on a region of interest (ROI). The ROI is sup-posed to contain the defect candidates. To each voxel group of the ROI the

. . .

. .D E F E C T D E T E C T I O N M O D U L ESettings


analysis parameters will be applied. Define the ROI manually, by import-ing a ROI template or via a defect mask.

See the definition of the parameters for more detailed information on the algorithms.

Cal ibrat ion parameters(This section is not available for the Custom defect mask algorithm; see Defect mask selection on page 28-4 for parameters applicable to this algo-rithm instead).

• Threshold (Only Threshold algorithm only)

Defect voxels are defined only by a gray value threshold. Threshold defines the maximum defect gray value, every voxel with a gray value below Threshold is considered as part of a defect.

• Defect Max(Default and Enhanced algorithms only)

Seed voxels (defect candidates) are identified in an iterative manner. The gray value of these seed voxels has to be below the Defect Max value.

• Background(Default and Enhanced algorithms only)

Background is the lower limit of the interval for the iterations. Changing this value has less significance than changing Defect Max or Runs.

• Runs(Default and Enhanced algorithms only)

In Default algorithm, the number of the Runs determines the number of iter-ations when determining and flooding a potential defect. High values will lead to more reliable results at the cost of longer processing time.

In Enhanced algorithm, Runs determines the fineness when identifying seed voxels. Flooding will be executed until a precision of one gray value is reached.

• Use calibrationClick Use calibration to set Defect Max and Background values automatically based on the calibration of the object. This mode is recommended for sin-gle material objects and images with only a very low noise level.

• Define manuallyClick Define manually to specify background and material gray values by sample areas. This procedure is similar to a calibration, but does not (re-)calibrate the object. This mode is recommended for multi-material



2 8

objects and/or images with an average or above average noise level as it allows you to select the sample areas specifically with regard to defects.

Defect mask se lect ion(This section is only available for the Custom defect mask algorithm; see Calibration parameters on page 28-3 for parameters applicable to other algorithms instead).

• Custom defect maskChoose the defect mask defining which voxels are part of defects and which are not from the drop-down list.

Analysis parametersThe analysis parameters influence the second stage of the defect detection procedure.

• Min. size / Max. sizeSpecify the minimum and maximum defect size.

Due to the nature of CT data, the value for Min. size should be no less than 8 voxel edge lengths (i.e. an area of 2x2x2 voxels). Increase the value decreasing data quality.

When specifying the Max. size of the defect, consider that longish cracks have a rather large volume and that an accumulation of nearby very small defects might be interpreted as one large defect. Specify the Max. size rather generously.

• Probability thresholdAll potential defect areas passing the size check will be further processed by several analysis stages. These stages try to differentiate between real defects and artifacts by utilizing sophisticated image processing algo-rithms. Each detected defect is tagged with a value indicating the probabil-ity that it is a real defect. Specify the Probability threshold so that only defects with a probability above the threshold will be included in the list.

The figure below shows two defects with different Probabilities where the left defect has a ten times higher Probability that the defect on the right hand side.

. . .



Tips and tricks Start with a Probability threshold of zero if you run the defect detection on a new data set for the first time to make sure you don’t filter real defects from the list. There is no absolute value for the threshold applicable to all data sets.

• check neighborhoodIf this option is enabled the defect detection algorithm compares the poten-tial defect with its local neighborhood. If a potential defect‘s appearance is very similar to the surrounding structure, its probability will be reduced. This option is useful to reduce the number of erroneously detected artifacts. The figure below illustrates the effect of this option: The image on the left hand side has been obtained without, the one on the right hand side with neighborhood check.

• ignore streak artifactsBeam artifacts may appear within (industrial) CT data as linear dark streaks. If Ignore streak artifacts is activated these structures are detected and



2 8

assigned with a low defect probability value. See the figure below for an example.

Warning A real defect might not be detected with ignore streak artifacts activated if it is connected to and/or fits into the shape of a beam artifact.A beam artifact might not be removed by the ignore streak artifacts algorithm in cases where a beam artifact is connected to another defect so that the total shape of both is no longer a straight line-like structure.

• ignore circular CT-artifactsCircular artifacts may appear within (industrial) CT data as dark circles or arcs. See the figure below for an example.

Activate ignore circular CT-artifacts to avoid an erroneous interpretation of those circular structures as defects. A dialog will prompt you to draw a cir-cle around such artifacts. Position the cross hair cursor within the center of a circular artifact. All circular structures around this center (but not the cen-ter itself) will be considered circular artifacts and will be discounted when building the defects list.

. . .



The center will not be visibly marked. To redefine it, deactivate and then reactivate the option.

Warning A real defect connected to a circular artifact will not be detected if ignore circular CT-artifacts is activated.A real defect with the shape of a circle (or a part of a circle) will not be detected if the center of this circle would be the rotation center defined.

• ignore center CT-artifactsThe pixel in the rotation center may appear as a dark area within (indus-trial) CT data. See the figure below for an example.

Activate ignore center CT-artifacts to avoid an erroneous interpretation of this center pixel as defect. A dialog will prompt you to draw a circle around the rotation center. Position the cross hair cursor within the center pixel.

Warning A real defect connected to a center artifact will not be detected if ignore center CT-artifacts is activated.A real defect with a point-like shape will not be detected if it is positioned in the rotation center defined.

Addi t ional defect proper t iesThe Defects table has columns for size (SizeX, SizeY, SizeZ) and projections along one axis (PX, PY, PZ). These values will only be calculated if the cal-culate size and projections checkbox is activated.

The projection values are the area of the defect projected flat along one of the axes of the currently selected coordinate system (see Coordinate Sys-tem in chapter Window menu on page 12-2).

See Defects on page 28-11 for further information on the columns of the Defects table.

D E F E C T D E T E C T I O N M O D U L EColors


2 8

ProcessEnable the defect size color coding checkbox to apply the color scheme defined in the Colors page to the detected defects.

Warning If this option is enabled the analysis requires more memory and needs more time for the calculation.

You can add/remove the color coding afterwards (see Add color coding / Remove color coding on page 28-1 and Colors on page 28-8).

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Colors

By default, defects are marked in red in the CT data. Apply a color coding scheme to mark defects depending on their size in different colors.

LUTPreview how the detected defects are grouped according to size and mapped to a specified color.

Sect ionsThe Sections table defines intervals of defect sizes and assignes a color or a color gradient to each interval. Define the size range of defects that are to be colored by entering a minimum and maximum defect volume (From and To, respectively).

The coloring can be based on a single size interval or a number of size intervals. To create an interval, click Create smooth or Create stepped:

• Create smooth Generates one single color section. Clicking the button will show the Create smooth table dialog.

• Create stepped Generates a set of color sections. Clicking the button will show the Create stepped table dialog. Define the defect size range covered by the sections and the step size.


Warning Clicking Create smooth or Create stepped will delete all sections in the table and create new sections.

Each generated color section can be modified individually. In the Sections table simply click onto an entry to modify its value.

. . .

. .D E F E C T D E T E C T I O N M O D U L EColors


• From / To Define the start and end values of the color sections (size intervals).

• Type Switches between the coloring schemes Constant, Gradient, Rainbow and Reverse Rainbow, thereby applying a single color or a multi-color scheme to the selected interval.

• Detail Modifies the appearance of the selected Type color scheme. Double-click to open a dialog to select a color and/or specify color attributes (for the rain-bow schemes, only the alpha channel can be modified).

• split / mergeRight-clicking onto a color section produces a context menu with the options split and merge. Splitting a color section divides it up into two new color sections where each represents half of the original section. Merging several color sections results into a single color section. Only consecutive intervals can be merged.

OptionsSelect an entry from the Defect opacity mode pull-down menu to specify the opacity of a defect. Each defect consists of a voxel set. Each voxel has an assigned intensity. Based on the intensity and the selected mode the defect opacity is calculated. The following modes are available:

• RampThe lower the defects intensity value the lower is its opacity value. The higher the defects intensity value the higher is its opacity value.

• Inverse rampThe lower the defects intensity value the higher is its opacity value. The higher the defects intensity value the lower is its opacity value.

• ConstantEvery defect is fully opaque independently of its intensity value.

Other colorsSelect a color from the Uncoded defect color chooser by double-clicking the colored area with the left mouse button. A Select color dialog will appear in which you choose the desired color.

This option only influences the color coding of the detected defects if you did not enable the defect size color coding option on the Settings page (see Process on page 28-8).

D E F E C T D E T E C T I O N M O D U L EGeneral table features (Context Menus)


2 8

Tickmarks on color barIf Auto tickmarks is enabled, equidistant tickmarks are produced for the color bars. If Auto tickmarks is disabled, tickmarks appear only at the color section boundaries.

Preset se lect ionSelect, remove, export or import a user defined preset from the preset selec-tion pull down.

When saving a LUT, you can choose if you want to save an Absolute Preset, i.e. a preset that maps colors to absolute defect size. If the checkbox is not activated, colors are saved relative to the range of the analysis.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . General table features (Context Menus)

Right click anywhere into the Defects or Annotations tables to show their context menu. The menu contains the following options:







• Create annotationsCreates annotations for the selected defects.

• Create ROI from defect maskCreates a Region of Interest from the calculated defects.

To change the order in which each column appears in the table press <Ctrl> and left click the desired column header. Keep the <Ctrl> key

. . .

. .D E F E C T D E T E C T I O N M O D U L EDefects


pressed and drag the mouse over the available column headers until the new position is reached. Release the mouse button to insert the column at its new position.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Defects

The Defects table lists every defect detected by the defect detection analysis module. By using the up and down cursor keys you step through the defects table. Each defect is marked with a cross-hair cursor in each of the slice views. You also can access any defect within the table by left-clicking on it.

The individual columns within the Defects table are:

• AnalysisThe name of the analysis the defect belongs to.

• ProbabilityThe defect‘s probability (see Analysis parameters on page 28-4).

• VolumeThe defect‘s volume.

• VoxelThe amount of voxels the defect consists of.

• PosX / PosY / PosZThe center position of the defect.

• SizeX / SizeY / SizeZThe size of the bounding box encapsulating the defect. See the figure below for an illustration. These values will only be calculated if the appro-

priate checkbox is activated (see Additional defect properties on page 28-7).

• SurfaceThe surface of the defect.

D E F E C T D E T E C T I O N M O D U L EDefects


2 8

• PX / PY / PZThe surface area of the defect‘s shape projected along each of the axes of the currently selected coordinate system (see Coordinate System in chapter Window menu on page 12-2). See the figure below for an illustration.

These values will only be calculated if the appropriate checkbox is acti-vated (see Additional defect properties on page 28-7)

• MinThe minimum gray value within the defect.

• MaxThe maximum gray value within the defect.

• MeanThe mean gray value within the defect.

• DeviationThe gray value deviation within the defect.

• DescriptionEnter a description for the component used for reporting.

• Detail viewSelect a view mode for reporting. Either choose one of the six view direc-tions top, bottom, front, back, right or left or choose orthographic projec-tion.

• Detail zoom viewSelect a zoomed Detail view for reporting.

• ImagesDisplays the amount of images generated with the Capture from function. Below the Components table is an area reserved for screenshots. To capture a screenshot first select a view from the pull down, then click the Capture from button. Each screenshot will be displayed in the area above. The

. . .

. .D E F E C T D E T E C T I O N M O D U L EStatistics


screenshots can be chosen to appear in the final report.You can specify a name for the image by clicking the <no description> label twice.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Statistics

You inspect various statistical data on this page. The page consists of a his-togram showing the defect volume distribution within the voxel data set, the Options area and the two sections Defects and Material.

OptionsIn the Binning pull-down menu, you can choose between no binning and a binning according to the sections of the color bar.

Furthermore, you can choose between Linear and Logarithmic scaling for both axes in the Scale X and Scale Y pull-down menus.

DefectsThe Defects section contains the following statistical values:

• Σ VoxelThe sum over all voxels contained within defects

• Σ VolumeThe sum over all defect volumes

• Σ SurfaceThe sum over all defect surfaces

• Σ PX / PY / PZThe sum over all projected defect surfaces

Mater ia lThe Material section contains the following values:

• Iso valueSpecify an iso value which defines the material boundary of the to be ana-lyzed voxel data set. This option is only available if your volume is not cal-ibrated.

• VolumeThe volume of the to be analyzed voxel data set. It is either defined by an Iso value, in case your object is not calibrated or by the calibration.

• DefectsThe sum over all defect volumes.

• PorosityThe defect volume/(material volume + defect volume) ratio.

D E F E C T D E T E C T I O N M O D U L EAnnotations


2 8

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Annotations

The Annotations table lists every annotation created for the selected defect detection analysis. Here you can inspect information supplied by the anno-tations or edit annotation properties.

To create an annotation select the desired defect detection analysis within the Scene Tree and click the right mouse button to show the analysis con-text menu. Select New > Analysis annotation and click into any 2D window or the 3D window to position the annotation.

The annotation is designed as a movable label displaying informations about the current analysis. A defect detection annotation contains the anno-tation name, the defect‘s Volume (Vol), the defect‘s Probability (Prob) and the position of the annotation.

The Volume value is color coded. The green color signalizes an available Volume value for the current position. The yellow color signalizes that for the current annotation position there is no Volume value available. This hap-pens if the annotation is moved outside a defect.



The individual columns within the defect detection’s Annotations table are:

• AnalysisThe name of the analysis the annotation belongs to.

• NameThe name of the annotation.

• PosX / PosY / PosZPosition of the annotation.

• VolumeThe volume of the defect at the given annotation position.

• DescriptionEnter a description for the annotation used for reporting.

• Detail viewSelect a view mode for reporting. Either choose one of the six view direc-tions top, bottom, front, back, right or left or choose orthographic projec-tion.

• Detail zoom viewSelect a zoomed Detail view for reporting.

. . .

. .D E F E C T D E T E C T I O N M O D U L ECapture images


• ImagesDisplays the amount of images generated with the Capture from function. Below the Annotations table is an area reserved for screenshots. To capture a screenshot first select a view from the pull down, then click the Capture from button. Each screenshot will be displayed in the area above. The screenshots can be chosen to appear in the final report You can specify a name for the image by clicking the <no description> label twice.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Capture images

The Capture images page allows to take screenshot from the selected work-space widget. The captured images are listed separately within the final report apart from screenshots created in the Defects or Annotations section.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Report


Report sect ionsSelect which sections of the analysis should be included or excluded from the report be either enabling or disabling the corresponding checkboxes Settings, Defects, Statistics or Annotations.

Detai l images set t ingsUse these settings to change the appearance of the detail images you speci-fied in the Components and/or Annotations tables. Zoom factor sets the zoom level for the Detail zoom view images in the respective tables. By enabling the Manual check box you can change Color mode and or the Background color of the various workspace widget screenshots created within the analysis.


Cel lsEach report page will contain a set of user defined cells. These cells are part of the report layout and their content is customizable. Simply click on a cell and select an attribute from the pull down. Either assign the attribute

D E F E C T D E T E C T I O N M O D U L EReport


2 8

to the Cell title or to the Cell content. The Cell title is a textual description of the cell content. The Cell content defines what shall be displayed within the cell. You can append attributes to previous attributes by clicking the assign button again.


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .WALL THICKNESS MODULE 29

he Wall Thickness Analysis tool processes a voxel data set for areas within a user defined wall thickness interval (or, inversely, gap width interval). As a result of such an analysis the user will get a

detailed report about the detected wall thickness and a miscolored data set for documentation purposes.

Wall thickness analysis is an optional add-on module for VG Studio MAX and requires additional licensing.


The wall thickness dialog consists of several pages in which you can mod-ify analysis parameters or inspect the wall thickness analysis result. Each page shares in its display a Calculate button which executes the analysis and a Close button which closes the dialog without performing an analysis.

Select a valid object within the Scene Tree (see chapter Scene Tree tool) on which the wall thickness analysis should be performed. A valid object is either a voxel data set or a region of interest defined on a voxel data set.

A status bar at the bottom of each page signals the current status of the analysis. The status can either be

• ready to go

Everything needed for the analysis is available

• analysis is up to date

The current analysis result is valid and does not need any recalculation

• analysis update required

Modifying any Settings parameters will lead to an invalidation of the cur-rent analysis result. The analysis has to be recalculated.

• object is not calibrated

No calibration information is available. To remedy this situation either cal-ibrate the selected object (see Calibrate in chapter Object menu on page 5-2) or disable the Use calibration option and specify a custom iso value (see Material on page 29-2).

T

WA L L T H I C K N E S S M O D U L ESettings


2 9

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sett ings

Preset Select ionSelect or remove a user defined preset from the preset selection pull down. Any parameter set applied within the Settings page can be saved as a user defined preset.

Mater ia lIf Use calibration is enabled, the analysis uses the calibration information to determine the transition between background and material. This requires the object to be calibrated before performing the analysis (see Calibrate in chapter Object menu on page 5-2). If Use calibration is disabled, an iso value has to be specified manually.

Under Analysis mode, you can specify if you want the algorithm to run on the actual Material or on the Background. The latter option can be used deter-mine the gap width of objects.

Wal l th icknessUse the Min. thickness and Max. thickness values to specify which wall thick-ness interval you are interested in.

To measure meaningful distances, VG Stud io MAX searches the opposite sur-face by sending a measurement line orthogonal to the current surface. The surface area of the opposite surface is taken into account for the end point of the measurement line is defined by a search cone. Search angle specifies the search cone‘s aperture angle. See the figure below for an illustration of this principle.

Component analys isThe Min. volume value specifies the minimal size for a component to be listed as a result.

. . .

. .WA L L T H I C K N E S S M O D U L EColors


In the Position property pull-down menu you can specify which part of a component is to be it recognized as its position: the point of its Min. thick-ness, Max. thickness or its Spatial center. This influences for example the val-ues in the Pos X/Y/Z column of the Components table.

Algor i thm deta i lsBy activating Create closed surface, additional boundaries are introduced. For example if the analysis is performed within a region of interest (ROI) and Closed surface is enabled, the ROI boundaries can be interpreted as opposite surface. See the figure below for an illustration of this principle: The image on the left hand side has been obtained using the Create closed surface option, the image on the right hand side without this option.

Enabling the Advanced mode reduces the chance to get gaps in the analysis - at the cost of significantly longer computing time.

When the High encoding precision option is enabled, the algorithm uses a finer sampling rate which will produce more precise results at the cost of significantly higher computing time. The resulting precision is displayed below this option.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Colors

Define the color coding scheme used for the representation of the analysis result mask.

LUTThe color lookup table (LUT) preview shows the partitioning into color sections.

Sect ionsIn the Sections element the appearance of each color section is defined. Cre-ate smooth will generate one color section. Clicking the button will show

WA L L T H I C K N E S S M O D U L EColors


2 9

the Create smooth table dialog. There the wall thickness range represented by the respective section is defined.

Create stepped generates a set of color sections. Clicking the button will show the Create stepped table dialog. Define the thickness range by entering from and to values.


Each generated color section can be modified individually. In the Sections table simply click onto an entry to modify its value. From and To define the start and end values of the color sections. Type switches between the color-ing schemes Constant, Gradient, Rainbow and Reverse Rainbow. Detail lets you modify the appearance of the selected Type color scheme. Right-clicking onto a color section shows a context menu with the options split and merge. Splitting a color section divides it up into two new color sections where each represents half of the original section. Merging several color sections results into a single color section. Only consecutive intervals can be merged.

OptionsShow result lets you enable/disable the visual representation of your analysis result. It does not modify the analysis result itself.

Select an entry from the Display mode pull-down menu to specify visual rep-resentation of the analysis results. The following modes are available:

• RampThe lower the gray value of the respective wall segment, the lower is its opacity value. The higher the defects intensity value the higher is its opac-ity value.

• Inverse rampThe lower the gray value of the respective wall segment the higher is its opacity value. The higher the defects intensity value the lower is its opacity value.

• ConstantEvery wall segment is fully opaque independently of its gray value.

• OverlayThe color of the analyzed object will be set according to its local wall thickness. This mode does not make sense if the analysis was run on the Background of an object.

. . .

. .WA L L T H I C K N E S S M O D U L EGeneral table features


Tickmarks on color barIf Auto tickmarks is enabled, equidistant tick marks are produced for the color bars. If Auto tickmarks is disabled, tick marks appear only at the color section boundaries.

Preset se lect ionSelect, remove, export or import a user defined preset from the preset selec-tion pull down.

When saving a LUT, you can choose if you want to save an Absolute Preset, i.e. a preset that maps colors to absolute wall thickness. If the checkbox is not activated, colors are saved relative to the range of the analysis.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . General table features

Right click anywhere into the Components or Annotations tables to show their context menu. The menu contains the following options:







To change the order in which each column appears in the table press <Ctrl> and left click the desired column header. Keep the <Ctrl> key pressed and drag the mouse over the available column headers until the new position is reached. Release the mouse button to insert the column at its new position.

WA L L T H I C K N E S S M O D U L EComponents


2 9

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Components

The Components table lists connected regions detected by the wall thickness analysis.

Warning Removing a Components entry will invalidate the current analysis. Click the Update button to update the analysis.

The individual columns within the Components table are:

• Analysis

The name of the analysis the component belongs to. If you select more than one wall thickness analysis, the annotations of every wall thickness analy-sis are listed. With the analysis information you can distinguish between annotations belonging to different wall thickness analyses.

• Min thickness

The minimal thickness detected within the component.

• Max thickness

The maximum thickness detected within the component.

• PosX, PosY, PosZ

Depending on what has been chosen as Position property (see Component analysis on page 29-2), this column lists the position of the Min. thickness, Max. thickness or Spatial center of the respective component.

• Bottom (X, Y, Z) and Top (X, Y, Z)

The bottom and top values for each direction provide information about the extent of an individual component.

• Volume

The volume of the component.

• Description

Enter a description for the component used for reporting.

• Detail view

Select a view mode for reporting. Either choose one of the six view direc-tions top, bottom, front, back, right or left or choose orthographic projec-tion.

• Detail zoom


. . .

. .WA L L T H I C K N E S S M O D U L EAnnotations


• Images

Displays the amount of images generated with the Capture from function. Below the Components table is an area reserved for screenshots. To capture a screenshot first select a view from the pull down, then click the Capture from button. Each screenshot will be displayed in the area above. The screenshots can be chosen to appear in the final report. You can specify a name for the image by clicking the <no description> label twice.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Annotations

The Annotations table lists every annotation created for the selected wall thickness analysis. Here you can inspect information supplied by the anno-tations or edit annotations properties.

To create an annotation select the desired wall thickness analysis within the Scene Tree and click the right mouse button to show the analysis context menu. Select New > Analysis annotation, hold down <Ctrl> and click into any 2D window or the 3D window to position the annotation.

The annotation is designed as a movable label displaying informations about the current analysis. A wall thickness annotation contains the annota-tion name, the current Thickness, the tolerance values specified via Min thick-ness and Max thickness and the position of the annotation.

The Thickness value is color coded. The green color signalizes an available Thickness value for the current position and the current tolerance values. The yellow color signalizes that for the current annotation position there is no Thickness value available. This happens if the annotation is moved out-side the wall thickness result area. The yellow color can also mean that within the chosen encoding precision (see Algorithm details on page 29-3) it can not be decided if the annotation lies inside the specified tolerance inter-val.The red color signalizes that the Thickness value at the current annota-tion position is not inside the specified tolerance interval.



The individual columns within the wall thickness‘s Annotations table are:

• Analysis

The name of the analysis the annotation belongs to.

• Name

WA L L T H I C K N E S S M O D U L EAnnotations


2 9

The name of the annotation.

• Pos (X, Y, Z)

Position of the annotation.

• Thickness

The thickness of the analyzed voxel set at the given annotation position.

• Enc. precision

This column is disabled per default and can be enabled via the context menu. It displays the thickness interval for the respective component. The displayed uncertainty results from the chosen encoding precision.

• Min thickness

By specifying Min thickness you introduce a tolerance value which states that the thickness at the annotation‘s position must not be smaller than Min thickness.

• Max thickness

By specifying Max thickness you introduce a tolerance value which states that the thickness at the annotation‘s position must not be larger than Max thickness.

• Description

Enter a description for the annotation used for reporting.

• Detail view

Select a view mode for reporting. Either choose one of the six view direc-tions top, bottom, front, back, right or left or choose orthographic projec-tion.

• Detail zoom view


• Images

Displays the amount of images generated with the Capture from function. Below the Annotations table is an area reserved for screenshots. To capture a screenshot first select a view from the pull down, then click the Capture from button. Each screenshot will be displayed in the area above. The screenshots can be chosen to appear in the final report. You can specify a name for the image by clicking the <no description> label twice.

. . .

. .WA L L T H I C K N E S S M O D U L ECapture images


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Capture images

The Capture images page allows to take screenshots from the selected work-space widget. The captured images are listed separately within the final report apart from screenshots created in the Components or Annotations sec-tion.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Report


Report sect ionsSelect which sections of the analysis should be included or excluded from the report be either enabling or disabling the corresponding checkboxes Settings, Components or Annotations.

Detai l images set t ingsUse these settings to change the appearance of the detail images you speci-fied in the Components and/or Annotations tables. Zoom factor sets the zoom level for the Detail zoom view images in the respective tables. By enabling the Manual check box you can change Color mode and or the Background color of the various workspace widget screenshots created within the analysis.


Cel lsEach report page will contain a set of user defined cells. These cells are part of the report layout and their content is customizable. Simply click on a cell and select an attribute from the pull down. Either assign the attribute to the Cell title or to the Cell content. The Cell title is a textual description of the cell content. The Cell content defines what shall be displayed within the cell. You can append attributes to previous attributes by clicking the assign button again.

WA L L T H I C K N E S S M O D U L EReport


2 9


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .CT-RECONSTRUCTION 30

he CT-reconstruction tool is designed to create and import voxel data sets by reconstructing them from (cone-beam) CT-scanner gener-ated projection data files. You can access this feature through

File>Import>CT-reconstruction.

CT-reconstruction is an optional add-on module for VG Studio MAX and requires additional licensing.

The tool is organized as a wizard which guides you through the whole reconstruction process. Several pages have Info fields describing options on the fly. Click the Back or Next buttons to navigate through the wizard. Click the Finish button to execute the reconstruction or click the Cancel button to close the dialog without executing the reconstruction process.

Since the CT-reconstruction tool has a very complex parameter set you can load a predefined parameter set by clicking the Load parameters button or save the current parameter set by clicking the Save parameters button.

After you have provided sufficient information on the projection files and reconstruction geometry, you can use the Preview/ROI button to show the Projection preview dialog (see Dialog: Projection preview on page 30-9).

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reconstruction approach

Project ion preprocessingChoose the correct type of preprocessing according to the origin of your projection data:

• NoneYour projection files have already been completely preprocessed, even including the Feldkamp highpass filtering step. VG Studio MAX will use the projection data “as is” for the backprojection process.

• FilterYour projection files have already been calibrated and logarithmized, but VG Stud io MAX still needs to apply the Feldkamp highpass filter.

• Calibrate and filterYour projection files originate directly from the CT-scanner. Most likely they contain 16-Bit detector intensities. Those files must be logarithmized,

T

C T- R E C O N S T R U C T I O NProjection files


3 0

and can optionally be normalized using one or two additional calibration images. See Calibration on page 30-4 for details. Afterwards, the data will be highpass filtered.

Tips and tricks If you are unsure whether calibration is still necessary for your input projections, use the Projection preview to inspect the images: If “empty” regions appear black (low grey values), the files have already been logarithmized.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Projection f i les

Specify the location and format of the projection files used for reconstruc-tion.

Project ion f i lesView and edit the list of projection files. The order of the files in the list is important: It is determined by the Sorting setting and reflects the assumed angular order used at reconstruction time.

• Add filesClick to open a file dialog and select one or more files. They will be added to the file list.

• Add directoryClick to open a file dialog and select a directory. All files inside the direc-tory will be added to the file list.

• RemoveRemove currently selected entries from the list.

• Remove allRemoves all entries from the list.

Tips and tricks Note that the current number of projection files is displayed on top of the list. Useful for ensuring you did not select any wrong files (having 721 instead of 720 files can lead to surprising failures at the end of a probably long reconstruction process).

Sort ing Choose a sorting strategy for the projection files in the list.

• Numbers up / numbers downSorts projection files with respect to a numbering scheme of the file names.

. . .

. .C T- R E C O N S T R U C T I O NProjection files


• UnsortedLeave file order unchanged.

Warning An inverted sort order is a common cause for unsatisfactory reconstruction results. If you see blurred, ghostly results in the final volume, try inverting the projection order; it is relevant!

Fi le formatChoose the format for all provided projection files. Mixed formats are not possible. For Raw and Raw (GZip) files, also specify the Data type, Endian and Header skip settings. Available formats are:

• Raw

• Raw (GZip)

• TIFF

• BMP

• JPEG

• JPEG2000

For more detailed information on those formats, see Import: Image stack in chapter File menu on page 3-6.

Data typeFor Raw file formats, you must explicitly specify the projection files’ data type. Available types are:

• Unsigned 16-bit

• Signed 16-bit

• Unsigned 32-bit

• Signed 32-bit

• 32-bit float

EndianFor Raw file formats, you can specify the byte-order of the data type ele-ments of the projection files (either Little or Big endian).

Header sk ipFor Raw file formats, you can optionally specify the size of a “header” to be ignored from the beginning of each file. This value must be given as num-ber of bytes.

C T- R E C O N S T R U C T I O NCalibration


3 0

Orientat ionUse this option to swap the axes of the imported projections in case the stored “rows” in your files do not represent “horizontal rows” (perpendicu-lar to the rotation axis) in your physical reconstruction setup. The YZ ori-entation is the unswapped default, the ZY orientation swaps the axes. The axes are named Y and Z to correspond with the reconstruction setup defini-tions, where Z is the rotation axis direction.

MirrorUse these options to mirror one or both axes of the imported projection files.

Ignore border p ixe lsSet this option to a value greater than zero to indicate that VG Stud io MAX shall ignore the given amount of pixel rows/columns at the border of each projection. This is a simple way to define a (symmetric) “Import-ROI” for the projection data.

Tips and tricks Some CT-scanners tend to produce single rows of zero-valued pixels which are detrimental to the calibration and backprojection procedure. Use the border pixel option if you experience artefacts with exceedingly high grey-values in the reconstructed volume.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Calibration

Here you can specify additional image files needed for calibrating all pro-jections.

This page is only available if you select the Calibrate and filter approach on the first page.

The calibration file(s) must have the same format, data type, and dimen-sions as all other projection files.

Raw detector images must be logarithmized before being used for recon-struction. Before doing so, each projection image must be normalized to a gray value range of ]0,1]. If you do not supply special reference files, this normalization will be done by determining the maximum gray value of each image independently and normalizing the image accordingly. How-ever, a common approach is to take one or two reference images showing the detector levels with full, unabsorbed x-ray intensity (Calibration file “bright”) and, additionally, no intensity at all (Calibration file “dark”). If you supply either the “bright” or both “bright” and “dark” files, the projections

. . .

. .C T- R E C O N S T R U C T I O NGeometry


are calibrated pixel by pixel using the zero-to-bright or dark-to-bright intensity range.

Assuming that, in the actual projection images, no detector pixel actually contains zero (resp. exactly “dark”) values, VG Studio MAX will finally take the negative logarithm of the pixel values. This completes the calibration process.

Tips and tricks Defective detector pixels with zero gray values will result in extremely high calibrated intensities that are detrimental to the reconstruction process. If you encounter such effects, try the Speckle removal option on the Reconstruction options page.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Geometry

Required parameters• Result number of voxels (x/y/z)

Desired number of voxels for the reconstruction result volume. Z is the rotation axis direction.Note: the final resulting volume can still be reduced by defining ROI and skip settings.

• Detector number of pixels (y/z)Number of rows and columns in each projection file.Z is the rotation axis direction.

• Detector physical size (y/z)Complete detector size in physical length units. Z is the rotation axis direction.

• Distance source-objectThe distance from the x-ray source to the rotation axis.

• Distance source-detectorThe distance from the x-ray source to the detector plane.

Opt ional parameters• Horizontal detector offset

Horizontal (detector axis Y) shift of the x-ray source versus the detector center.

• Vertical detector offsetVertical (detector axis Z) shift of the x-ray source versus the detector cen-ter.

C T- R E C O N S T R U C T I O NReconstruction options


3 0

• Angular offsetStarting angle for the first projection file. The angle offset will alter the ori-entation of the result volume cube. Either set it manually or use the Projec-tion preview dialog to choose a desired rotation.

• Angular sectionChange this if your projections do not cover a full circle, but only a portion. Note that reconstruction results will be poor for such incomplete projection data.

Manual resul t vo lume speci f icat ionWhen disabled, VG Stud io MAX will determine the physical size of the recon-structed volume dataset automatically, based on the covered volume calcu-lated from detector size, source-detector distances etc.. Enable the manual mode to override these settings.

• Result physical sizeThe size of the reconstruction volume in physical length units. Together with the number of reconstruction voxels (given above), this will determine the voxel sampling distance of the resulting volume.

• Result offsetThe offset of the reconstruction volume’s center.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reconstruction options

Interpolat ion modeWhen (back-)projecting reconstruction voxel position to projection image positions, VG Studio MAX must perform 2D-interpolations between neighbor-ing image pixels. Choose between Linear and Nearest interpolations. Near-est-neighbor interpolation is fastest, but only recommended for preview-quality reconstructions.

Fi l ter modeFor preprocessing modes Filter and Calibrate and filter, use this option to switch between a Ramp or a Shepp-Logan filter kernel used for highpass-fil-tering of the projection data.

A ramp filter will emphasize high frequencies slightly more, possibly resulting in a crisper result volume appearance.

ClampingChoose whether to treat negative values in the final backprojected volume as zero. Usually, reconstructed intensities should in fact be positive, and (slightly) negative values which may occur can be safely ignored.

. . .

. .C T- R E C O N S T R U C T I O NROI and skip


Speckle removalChoose whether VG Studio MAX should try to find and eliminate single pixels of extremely high or low intensity inside the projection images. Those may be defective detector pixels which would produce extreme circular arte-facts in the reconstructed volume.

GPU accelerat ionVG Stud io MAX can make use of modern graphics hardware to speed up the CT-reconstruction process. Choose whether to use the system’s graphics card or reconstruct using the CPU only. The default setting is taken from the application Preferences, where you can also change the amount of graphics hardware RAM used for reconstruction.

Warning If enabling GPU acceleration, check for possible warnings/errors in the reconstruction dialog status bar: Your hardware may not support accelerated reconstruction at all, or only with reduced (16-Bit floating point) precision.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ROI and skip

Define a region of interest on the reconstruction volume or skip voxels/pix-els on the reconstruction volume and/or projection images.

Reconstruct ion volume ROIVoxel-region-of-interest for the reconstruction volume. Based on the num-ber of reconstruction voxels given on the Geometry page. Either set the desired region of interest in each direction manually, or use the Projection preview dialog to choose a ROI interactively.

Project ion sk ipPixel skip to be applied when loading the projection files. Specify the number of pixels to be skipped in the respective direction. A skip rate of 0 applies no skipping. A skip rate of 1 for one axis will load only every other line so that the memory needed is reduced by half. A skip rate of 5 will skip 5 lines, load one line, then skip 5 lines etc.

Reconstruct ion sk ipVoxel skip for the reconstruction volume. Based on the number of recon-struction voxels given on the Geometry page.Specify the number of voxels to be skipped in the respective direction. A skip rate of 0 applies no skipping. A skip rate of 1 for one axis will load only every other slice so that the memory needed is reduced by half. A skip rate of 5 will skip 5 slices, load one slice, then again skip 5 slices etc.

C T- R E C O N S T R U C T I O NResult options


3 0

Tips and tricks Increasing the Projection skip has little influence on memory consumption, but reduces disk transfer, as less data needs to be loaded from the hard drive.Increasing the Reconstruction skip reduces memory consumption and reconstruction time, as the result volume becomes smaller.It is common practice to test newly composed reconstruction parameters with a high (3 or more) skip setting for both projections and result volume to create a low-resolution “preview” reconstruction. This way, faulty parameter settings can be easily spotted without wasting much time in the reconstruction process.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Result options

Import mode Specify if the reconstruction result is to be saved to disk and/or if it should be referenced in VG S tud io MAX ’s current scene afterwards. Possible modes are:

• Write to disk and importSaves the result slices to disk and then imports them into the current scene.

• Write to disk onlySaves the result slices to disk and finishes without importing the volume data.

• Write to disk laterDo not save result data immediately, but keep the reconstruction result in the current scene. You will be asked to save the resulting volume as soon as you save the scene to a .vgl-file.

• Do not write to disk, reference projection dataDo not save any result data, but keep the reconstruction result in the current scene. You will not be asked again when saving the scene to a .vgl-file. Instead, the .vgl-file will refer to the original projection files and recon-struct it on-the-fly each time the .vgl-file is loaded.

Warning When not writing to disk at reconstruction time and choosing a Result data type other than Float, VG Studio MAX will have to convert the entire result data set, resulting in a high memory consumption.When writing to disk only, you can theoretically reconstruct volumes of arbitrary sizes. VG Stud io MAX will split the reconstruction into multiple passes if the system’s memory does not suffice. This will come at the cost of increased reconstruction time.

. . .

. .C T- R E C O N S T R U C T I O NDialog: Projection preview


Resul t data typeChoose the data type of the final reconstruction volume. Note that the reconstruction is internally performed with floating point precision, and conversion to the specified data type happens at the very end of the pro-cess. If you choose the Float output type, the internal result values (possibly clamped to zero, see Reconstruction options on page 30-6) will be taken without further conversion. For 12-Bit and 16-Bit types, the result data will be optimally converted with respect to the overall float value range.

Sl ice export opt ionsSpecify the result file names for the reconstruction volume in case you chose to save the result to disk (see Import mode). The reconstructed volume will always be written slice-by-slice in z-direction (perpendicular to the rotation axis). According to the Base name and File suffix settings, the result-ing file names will have the form “<Base_name><Slicenumber_starting_from_zero><File_suffix>“.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dialog: Projection preview

Use the Projection preview to view all projection data corresponding to the current parameters. The preview will not be available unless all relevant settings on the Projection files and the Geometry pages have been filled in.

If specified, the Calibration settings will also be taken into account: the dis-played preview images will be shown in their calibrated state. If no calibra-tion settings are given, each projection-pair will be displayed after its gray values have been normalized. This normalization does not take into account any earlier projections you viewed. Thus, perceived image bright-nesses may differ slightly when you look at consecutive projections; this is normal and does not indicate problems with your settings or projection data.

Tips and tricks If the displayed projections seem exceptionally dark and contrastless, your data might contain defective pixels with extreme gray values. Try working with the Ignore border pixels option on the Projection files page, or with the Speckle removal option on the Reconstruction parameters page.

The preview consists of two orthogonal projection images. The controls on the bottom-right of the dialog indicate the projection number and corre-sponding rotation angle of the left projection. The right projection corre-sponds to +90 degrees. Use the index control to set the desired projection number (the angle control is not editable).

C T- R E C O N S T R U C T I O NDialog: Projection preview


3 0

Tips and tricks Use the preview images to confirm the correct Orientation of your projection images. The scanned object must appear to be upright and rotate around the screen-vertical axis.

Apply ROI and or ientat ionNotice the (blue or green) frame in each of the two projection images: move and resize those frames to clip away unneeded (empty) portions of the projection data (relative to the current rotation angle).

When pressing the Apply ROI and orientation button, VG S tud io MAX will trans-late the current rotation angle and the projection ROI indicated by the frames into suitable Angular offset and Reconstruction volume ROI values:

• The offset corresponds directly to the current angle, effectively rotating the result volume cube’s axes to be aligned to the two projections you are currently viewing. After applying the settings, the effective angle of the current (left) projection will be zero (due to the new angle offset).

• Because of the perspective projection of the cone-beam setup, the ROI on the result volume does not directly correspond to the projection image ROI. It will be calculated based on the dimensional proportions prescribed by the source-object/detector distances and detector/volume sizes.

After applying the settings, the ROI frame color will be blue, indicating that the offset and volume ROI settings are synchronized with what you see. Choosing a different projection-pair or moving the frames again will turn them green again.

Beta draft VGStudio MAX Manual 31-1

. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .SHORTCUTS 31

his chapter lists shortcuts used by VG Stud io MAX 2 .0 .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shortcuts in 2D / 3D window

<Ctr l> + scrol l wheelZoom to/away from position of the mouse pointer.

double-c l ick middle mouse but tonSwitch between Rotate and Move mode.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shortcuts in 2D window

scrol l wheelScroll through slices.

hold middle mouse but ton + move mouseDrag the slice around in the 2D window.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shortcuts in 3D window

hold middle mouse but ton and move mouse up/downIn Move mode, this brings the camera closer to/farther away from the object.

In Rotate mode, this rotates the object clockwise/counterclockwise.

<Ctr l> + move/rotate objectMove/rotate the object in fine steps.

<Shi f t> + move/rotate objectMove/rotate the object along the vertical or horizontal direction only.

double-c l ick objectSelect object (double-click into the background to deselect it)

T

S H O R T C U T SShortcuts in Scene Tree

31-2 VGStudio MAX Manual Beta draft

3 1

<Ctr l> + double-c l ick objectSelect/deselect multiple objects.

scrol l wheel ( i f l ight source se lected)Modify intensity of selected light source.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shortcuts in Scene Tree

double-c l ick objectOpen the properties dialog of the respective object, e.g. Render object prop-erties dialog for a voxel object, parameter settings for an analysis.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shortcuts for menu entries

<Ctr l> + NNew

<Ctr l> + OOpen

<Ctr l> + SSave

<Ctr l> + <Shi f t> + SSave As

<Ctr l> + ZUndo

<Ctr l> + YRedo

<Ctr l> + XCut

<Ctr l> + CCopy

<Ctr l> + XCut

. . .

. .S H O R T C U T SShortcuts for menu entries

Beta draft VGStudio MAX Manual 31-3

<Ctr l> + VPaste

<Del>Delete

<Ctr l> + <Shi f t> + RRotate

<Ctr l> + <Shi f t> + MMove

<Ctr l> + <Shi f t> + ACalibrate object

S H O R T C U T SShortcuts for menu entries

31-4 VGStudio MAX Manual Beta draft

3 1


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .GLOSSARY 32

his chapter explains some of the terms used throughout the docu-mentation and in the software. The explanations are tailored to the usage of the respective term in the VG Stud io MAX environment.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C

• Coordinate systemVG Stud io MAX uses right-handed, Cartesian coordinate systems to display data. The orientation of each 2D or 3D window with respect to the cur-rently chosen coordinate system is indicated by the tripod in the lower left corner. To align the slices seen in the 2D windows in different ways, you can choose between several coordinate systems.

• Comma separated values (.csv)Files of the .csv format store tabular data using a comma to separate values.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E

• EndiannessThis specifies the byte order used to represent certain data. There are two choices: big-endian and little-endian.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P

• Partial Volume EffectThis describes the effect that due to the limited resolution of CT-scans, properties of different materials can be merged within a single voxel. For

T

G L O S S A R YR


3 2

example, if you zoom into an air-metal transition, you will see voxels with intermediate gray values (see picture below).

VG Stud io MAX 2 .0 uses these voxels of intermediate gray value to find the surface of an object with sub-voxel precision.

• PolygonA polygon is a plane figure enclosed by straight line segments, for example a triangle. In computer graphics, triangular polygons are used to model and display surfaces of objects.

• PresetIn VG Stud io MAX 2 .0 , you can save various sets of parameters as presets, for example the settings made for a specific object in the Volume Rendering tool. You can load these presets later to apply them to different objects or export them to different computers.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R

• Reference objectVG Stud io MAX 2 .0 offers the following reference objects: points, lines, cir-cles, planes, spheres, cylinders and cones. They are fitted to your data and can be used to measure features of your data. Reference objects can also be combined to measure for example the angle between two planes. Further-more, you can use reference objects to register an object (see Register Object... in chapter Object menu on page 5-5).

• RegistrationIn some cases multiple data sets belong to one object, for example a scanned object and its CAD model or partly overlapping sub-volumes of an object too large to be scanned in one pass. The process of transforming these different data sets into one coordinate system is called registration. VG Stud io MAX 2 .0 offers various algorithms to perform 3-D registration. For further details, please refer to Register Object... in chapter Object menu on page 5-5.

. . .

. .G L O S S A R YR


• RenderingThe process of computing and displaying an image based on a model is called rendering. The rendering process can include the application of shadows, lighting, perspective and texture.

G L O S S A R YR


3 2


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .FILE EXTENSIONS 33

his chapter lists file extensions used by VG Studio MAX 2 .0 .

Warning We strictly warn you against editing or deleting files in the project folder: This can lead to inconsistencies and systems crashes or simply destroy your project.

• .actDenotes a color table file. Do not edit these files.

• .licDenotes a license file. To activate the software, copy the license file into the installation directory of VG Studio MAX . Do not edit, delete or otherwise modify these files as this will invalidate your license.

• .lutDenotes a color table file. Do not edit these files.

• .pstDenotes a preset file. Presets are available for various areas of the applica-tion. Each preset combines parameters of a specific area. You can transfer these files to another computer, but be warned that presets of the same name will be overwritten on that computer. Do not edit these files.

• .vglDenotes a project file. Project files include references to all imported objects, modifications such as rotation, opacity settings and analysis results. Do not edit these files.

One .vgl files combines with a correspondingly named project folder to a project. None is usable without the other.

• .vgpDenotes a file that contains preview information that can be used by file managers to create thumbnails. Do not edit or delete these files.

• .vgrDenotes a file containing information about ROIs (references to a .vgm file). Do not edit or delete these files.

T

F I L E E X T E N S I O N S


3 3

• .vgsDenotes a file containing information about polygons or point clouds. Do not edit or delete these files.

• .vgtDenotes a measurement template file. Do not edit or delete these files.

• .vgxDenotes a CT-reconstruction parameter file. Do not edit or delete these files.


. . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .INDEX

Symbols.avi 3-19, 3-23.bmp 3-6, 3-17, 3-22, 3-23.cb 3-7, 3-8.dcm 3-17, 3-18.gz 3-17, 3-18.hdf 3-18.hdr 3-18.img 3-8.inf 3-7, 3-8.jp2 3-6, 3-17, 3-22, 3-23.jpg 3-6, 3-17, 3-22, 3-23.obj 3-21.off 3-20.ply 3-21.pnm 3-7.ppm 3-7, 3-22, 3-23.raw 3-7, 3-17, 3-18.rek 3-8.sbm 3-8.stl 3-16, 3-17, 3-20.tif 3-7, 3-18, 3-22, 3-23.txt 3-20.vgi 3-1.vgl 3-1.vgt 26-29.wrl 3-21

Numerics2D Windows 2-532 bit float 3-113D Window 2-2

Aabsolute preset 14-1, 27-4, 28-10, 29-5Activate Navigation Cursor 8-6Adaptive Gauss 7-3advanced calibration 5-4algorithm

of defect detection 28-2aligned clipping box 17-2alphabetic up / down 3-9ambient 14-4, 18-3, 20-3anaglyph image 21-2Analysis menu 9-1

ANALYZE volume 3-7, 3-18Angle instrument 8-4angular offset 30-6angular section 30-6Animation

Menu 10-1Tool 22-1

annotations 2-4, 2-10, 8-3for defect detection 28-14for nominal/actual comparison 27-6for Wall Thickness Analysis 29-7

Apply opacity mapping 7-5arrange 27-7, 28-14, 29-7ASCII 3-10

Raw data 3-17, 3-18attenuation

of light sources 20-4auto

expand 26-7scale 27-3, 28-8, 29-4tickmarks 27-4, 28-10, 29-5

AVI movie 3-19, 3-23

BBackground 12-2Best fit

against another object 5-8best fit

against another object 5-8of several reference objects 5-6

binary 3-10BIR

images 3-6volume 3-7

Bitmap 3-6, 3-17, 3-22, 3-23box 2-5

CCAD 27-1calculate projections 28-7Calibration 5-2, 30-4

advanced 5-4automatic 5-3

Caliper instrument 8-6camera

lookat 22-3

I N D E X


orientation 21-1Camera tool 21-1camera trajectory

load 10-3save 10-3

canonic up / down 3-9cells

of actual/nominal comparison report 27-8of defect detection report 28-15of wall thickness analysis report 29-9

center 19-2check neighborhood 28-5circle 26-3clamp

colors 27-4outside distances 27-3

Clear undo queue 4-2Clipping

box 17-2objects 17-1plane 17-1tool 17-1

closed surface 15-2, 29-3CM Reporting 26-13codecs 3-19Color and Opacity mode 2-8, 12-3Color mode 2-8, 12-3combine reference objects 26-27components (Volume Rendering presets) 14-1Compressed Raw data 3-18compressed Raw data 3-17cone 26-3connected component analysis 23-3constant

attenuation 20-5context menu

of 2D window 2-8of 3D window 2-4of Profile window 2-11

Convolution 7-4Coordinate System 12-2Coordinate system

built-in 26-30editor 26-30temporary 26-31

Coordinate system editor 26-30Copy 4-2create closed surface 29-3create smooth 27-3, 28-8, 29-3create stepped 27-3, 28-8, 29-4CT-Reconstruction 30-1cull face 18-2cumulated 27-5current time 22-4Cut 4-2cutoff Angle 20-5

cylinder 26-3

Ddata histogram 23-1data range mapping 3-12, 3-14Default curves 10-4

Circle 10-5Clip 10-5Spiral 10-5

Defect detection module 28-1Defect opacity mode 28-9defect size color coding 28-8Delete 4-2detector offset

horizontal 30-5vertical 30-5

Deviation 27-5, 28-12filter 7-4

DICOM 3-7, 3-17, 3-18diffuse 14-4, 18-3, 20-3Dimensioning 26-12directional 20-1Display

distance 21-3mode 12-3

display mode 29-4Display unit 2-13Distance instrument 8-3Draw 5-9

Eedge void 26-6endian 3-10, 30-3Erosion

filter 7-5Export

AVI movie 3-18DICOM Image series 3-18Image stack 3-17Multiple volumes 3-19Polygon 3-20preset 14-1, 18-1, 20-1Volume file 3-18

eye distance 21-3

FFeldkamp highpass filter 30-1file types 3-1Fill 5-9Filter 7-1

Adaptive Gauss 7-3Apply opacity mapping 7-5Convolution 7-4Deviation 7-4Dilation 7-5

. . .

. .I N D E X


Erosion 7-5Gauss 7-4Median 7-5

fit reference object 26-3focal

depth 21-3point 21-1

force isotropic resampling 3-11FPS 22-4

Ggap width 29-2Gauss 7-4geometry 30-5GNU zip 3-10GPU acceleration 30-7gradient

attenuation, 20-5snap mode 8-7

gray value 3-12histogram 14-2intervals 14-3

guess type and size 3-10

HHardware renderer (Scatter HQ) 14-6HDF volume 3-8, 3-18high encoding precision 29-3histogram

in Import dialog 3-14of nominal/actual comparison 27-4

Hitachi volume 3-8horizontal detector offset 30-5

Iicon bars 2-13ignore

border pixels (in CT-reconstruction) 30-4, 30-9center CT-artifacts (in defect detection) 28-7circular CT-artifacts (in defect detection) 28-6streak artifacts (in defect detection) 28-5

image stack 3-1Import 3-5

CT Reconstruction 3-17Image stack 3-6Polygon 3-16preset 14-1, 18-1, 20-1Volume file 3-7voxel data 30-1

Indicator instrument 8-3Instruments 8-1

Angle 8-4Caliper 8-6Distance 8-3Indicator 8-3

Min/Max Distance 8-5Polyline 8-4

interlaced 21-2intersect 26-26intervals (of gray values) 14-3inverse ramp

for gray value import 3-13Volume Rendering preset 14-1

inverse sawtooth 3-13iso-level 14-5Isosurface renderer 14-5isosurface transparent 14-2iterations 26-6

JJEOL volume 3-8JPEG images 3-6, 3-17, 3-22, 3-23JPEG2000 images 3-6, 3-17, 3-22, 3-23

KKeyframer mode 10-1, 22-1

Copy current state 10-3Paste state 10-4Paste substate 10-4

LLayout

area 24-3Editor 24-1

least squaresmethod for reference object fitting 26-5

left image only 21-2Level/Window mode 12-3light sources 20-1

directional 20-1point 20-2spot 20-2

Light tool 20-1line 26-3linked features 24-3Local

Snap mode 8-7lock

slice position 2-6logo 25-3, 27-8, 28-15, 29-9lookup table 29-3LUT 27-2, 28-8, 29-3

Mmaterial face settings 18-3Max

distance 27-2, 27-3gradient 26-6Snap mode 8-7thickness 29-6, 29-7

INDEX


Maximum Projection 14-6measurement template

export 26-29import 26-30

Median filter 7-5Merge object 3-4mesh optimization 15-4Min

Snap mode 8-7thickness 29-6, 29-7

min/maxsize of defects 28-4

Min/max distance instrument 8-5minimum zone

method for reference object fitting 26-5mirror

a ROI 2-7axes 3-14

Move mode 2-3, 17-2

NNavigation Cursor 8-6Nearest

Snap mode 8-7No slice interpolation beyond... 3-11Normalize gradients 14-7Numbers up / down 3-9

OOOGL

ASCII 3-20binary 3-20

opacity 14-5manipulation area 14-2of clipped region 17-3

opacity transfer function 14-2OpenGL 21-3orientation 30-4Original display mode 2-8, 12-3overlays 3-21override resolution 3-11, 19-2oversampling 14-7

PPack and go 3-4parallel 21-2partial volume effect 3-15Paste 4-2percentage 27-5perspective 21-2Phong 14-6Pick Color 5-9plane 26-3point 20-2, 26-2Point cloud ASCII 3-20

Point reduction 15-3Polygon Rendering tool 18-1Polyline instrument 8-4Portable NetWork 3-7Portable PixMap 3-7Portable Pixmap 3-22, 3-23position 19-1precision

of surface extraction 15-3Preferences 4-3preset 2-1, 2-5, 2-10, 10-4, 14-1, 15-1, 18-1, 20-1, 24-1, 25-1, 27-2, 27-4, 28-2, 28-10, 29-2, 29-5, 32-2, 33-1preview

in Import dialog 3-15reduction factor 2-4

Printimage(s)... 3-23layout 27-8, 28-15, 29-9preview 27-8, 28-15, 29-9

probability 28-14threshold 28-4

Profile window 2-10project files 3-1projection

mode 21-2parallel 21-2perspective 21-2stereo-perspective 21-2

of reference objects 26-27preprocessing 30-1preview 30-9skip 30-7

propertiesof reference objects 26-9

QQuad 12-2Quad Profile 12-2

Rrainbow 27-3, 28-9, 29-4ramp 3-13

Volume Rendering preset 14-1Raw

data 3-7, 3-17, 3-18volume 3-8

reconstructionoptions 30-6skip 30-7

Redo 4-1reference

object 26-8, 32-2positioning 5-7

refitting of reference objects 26-7Region of Interest

. . .

. .I N D E X


See ROIRegister Object 5-5Registration

Best fit against another object 5-8registration 5-5

3-2-1 registration 5-6best fit against another object 5-8best fit of several reference objects 5-6reference positioning 5-7

REK volume 3-8Render

Animation 10-2point cloud 18-3solid 18-1wireframe 18-2

reportof defect detection 28-15of nominal/actual comparison 27-8of wall thickness analysis 29-9

resampling 15-3reset velocity curve 22-3resize reference objects 26-23resolution 19-2reverse

rainbow 27-3, 28-9, 29-4up / down 3-10

rgb8 3-11right image only 21-3ROI 3-13Rotate mode 2-3, 17-1rotation 19-1Ruler 12-3

SSave

AVI/image stack ... 3-22image(s)... 3-21

sawtooth 3-13Scatter (v1.2) 14-6Scatter Gradient (v1.2) 14-7Scatter HQ

Hardware Renderer 14-6Volume Renderer 14-6

Scatter HQ (v1.2) 14-6scene 3-1

zoom 21-3search distance

for reference object fitting 26-6Select menu 6-1Selection

of objects 2-2shadows 20-1, 20-4shared color 14-4Shepp-Logan 30-6Shimadzu

images 3-7

volume 3-8shininess 14-5, 18-4show result 29-4signed

16 bit 3-1032 bit 3-118 bit 3-10

simplification 15-4size

of video output 22-4skip 3-13

X/Y/Z 27-2Slice step width 12-4Slices Left/Right/Below 12-2Snap 8-7sorting 30-2speckle removal 30-7, 30-9specular 14-4, 18-3, 20-3sphere 26-3split mode 24-1spot 20-2Stanford PLY ASCII 3-21Stanford PLY binary 3-21Stereolithography

ASCII File Format 3-16, 3-20Binary File Format 3-17, 3-20File Format 3-16

stereo-perspective 21-2Sum along Ray 14-6surface definition 15-2Surface Extraction tool 15-1Swap

inner/outer areas 15-2swap 14-5

axes 3-14distance signs 27-2

symmetry-object 26-27

TTEMographie volume 3-8text labels 25-2Text Overlay Editor 25-1thickness 29-2, 29-7tickmarks on color bar 27-4, 28-10, 29-5Tiff images 3-7, 3-18, 3-22, 3-23toggle

fixed camera lookat 22-3transform mode 2-7

tolerance 15-4, 27-7tooldocks 2-12Tools menu 11-1Toshiba

images 3-7volume 3-8

total time 22-4Transformation

I N D E X


of reference objects 26-28tool 19-1

transparency 14-5triangle

limit 15-4mesh 15-2

tripod 2-4type

point count 27-4surface 27-4

UUncalibrate 5-4uncoded defect color 28-9Undo 4-1

Clear undo queue 4-2unit 2-13Unregister object 5-8unsigned

16 bit 3-1032 bit 3-118 bit 3-10

up vector 21-1

Vvariance 27-7velocity curve 22-2vertical detector offset 30-5view Angle 21-2volume 28-14Volume Analyzer tool 23-1Volume renderer (Phong) 14-6Volume renderer (Scatter HQ) 14-6Volume Rendering presets

components 14-1inverse ramp 14-1isosurface transparent 14-2ramp 14-1

Volume Rendering tool 14-1VRML V1.0 3-21VRML V2.0 3-21

WWall thickness module 29-1Wavefront Object 3-21Window menu 12-1workspace 2-1

window 24-2

XX-Ray 14-6

YYxlon volume 3-8

Documents

Reference VGStudio MAX - Harvard University · Min/max distance instrument 8-5 Caliper instrument 8-6 Activate navigation cursor 8-6 Snap 8-7 Snap modes > Min 8-7 Snap modes > Max